Education Archives

UC Santa Barbara Associated Students Bike Shop

June 13, 2024/in Education, PROJECTS/by Jeffrey Morris

UCSB’s Associated Students desired to replace their beloved but decades-old bike shop. The design team with AS and Facilities selected a site along Ocean Road that fronts Admissions, located inside SAASB – Student Affairs and Services Building.

Admissions worried that the literal and metaphorical University entrance would consist of broken bikes, dirt, and oil, but came on board once they understood the design’s focus on sustainability, resilience through repair, do-it-yourself entrepreneurship, and cycling health and wellness. Outdoor seating areas and a sculptural “selfie wall” and bench were added for prospective students and families to hang out before and after tours.

The geometrically striking structure is a “pavilion” foregrounding the blocky SAASB. Its form references the campus figure-ground’s many roundabouts as well as the bicycle wheel and frame. A spoked shade structure defines an outdoor do-it-yourself area between the building and community selfie-wall/bench. The concrete bench holds steel plates supporting student backs as well as UCSB branding. Inside, the open, bright shop has ample space for repair stands and plywood interior wall panels that imbue casual warmth and easy sophistication. A service counter open to the main road is punched through a long wall defining a shaded queueing area; customers can be assisted without coming inside and enjoy interactions with passersby.

This shop for UCSB’s huge cycling population is designed so that anyone, while having a bike serviced or visiting the campus, can chat with others, take a shady outdoor break, snap a proud selfie, and fully engage in the community.

CSU Long Beach Alumni Center

January 12, 2023/in Education, PROJECTS/by Jeffrey Morris

The Anna W. Ngai Alumni Center serves as a one-of-a-kind gathering space for both alumni and the campus community. Built on the former site of the Soroptimist House, the building was revitalized, making the alumni center one of the most beautiful and eye-catching spaces on campus. Maintained and operated by University Relations, the Anna W. Ngai Alumni Center is a venue that can be rented by the CSULB campus community for meetings, receptions, and other social events. The Center fosters programming dedicated to social and professional networking opportunities between students and alumni. It also serves as a repository for traditions, and a home-away-from-home for all alumni to gather. The alumni center is more than a state-of-the-art structure built with beauty and integrity – it’s a masterfully crafted living space where connections are garnered, cultivated and celebrated.

Westbrook Academy

October 18, 2022/in Education, On the Boards/by Jeffrey Morris

JFAK was selected to transform a property in the City of South Gate into the future home of the Westbrook Academy. Founded last year by Los Angeles native and LA Lakers basketball star Russell Westbrook, the Academy, currently housed at three separate leased facilities, is dedicated to improving access to educational and outdoor opportunities for the youth and greater community of South Los Angeles. The South Gate site is currently occupied by a 50,000 SF warehouse-turned-classroom-building used by East Los Angeles College (ELAC), a Carl’s Jr. restaurant, and parking. Owned and operated by LA Promise Fund (LAPF) and supported by the Russell Westbrook Foundation, the Academy comprises both a middle school and high school. From its new home in South Gate, the Academy will expand on the educational, career support, and outdoor community opportunities it offers to local students. JFAK has commenced master planning the site and will design facilities to host a variety of new programs including a community recreation center and gym, classrooms, daycare, parking, and food service. Also being integrated are outdoor education, recreation, and dining functions. The existing Carl’s Jr. is expected to be transformed and usable by the summer of this year. The 50,000 SF warehouse, renovated to contain 37 classrooms, will open to middle and high school students in Fall 2024. Working collaboratively with LAPF, Russell Westbrook Academy, and Owner’s Representative and Project Manager Primestor Development, JFAK will assist in realizing the remaining master plan components beyond that date.

LACCD LA Harbor College Job Placement and Data Center (JPDC)

October 18, 2022/in Education/by Jeffrey Morris

Awarded through a design-build competition hosted by BuildLACCD, LACCD’s sustainable building program, JFAK designed the full modernization of an existing 1-story administration building on the L.A. Harbor College (LAHC) campus to serve as headquarters for the LAHC Job Placement and Data Center as well as a division of the Fire Department / Homeland Security and a WorkSource OneSource Center. The re-design of JPDC strengthens its connectivity to the campus by enhancing the visual impact of the building by creating fluid connections between interior and exterior spaces. A new clocktower featuring a changeable LED display enhances the building’s presence and transforms it into an iconic landmark for the entire campus. It also marks the main entrance to the building. A new photovoltaic trellis cantilevers out over the roof to mark the building’s second major entrance. The design fosters a welcoming and inviting environment for students, faculty, and staff and encourages interaction. A new photovoltaic skylight covers an existing roof opening, creating a new interior atrium space which is the focal point of this new and catalytic environment.

Crossroads School Performing Arts Classroom Building

October 18, 2022/in Education, On the Boards/by Jeffrey Morris

This project gives students and faculty of the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences new opportunities for creativity, invention, and high achievement by establishing a new center for education and performance focused on drama, dance, film, and music.

The new facility is designed as a courtyard building, with classrooms; studios and rehearsal spaces for dance, drama, and multiple use; an office wing for performing arts faculty, a film classroom, practice rooms for use across disciplines; a 250-person Studio Classroom, and a large Scene Shop. Workspace and office space for the Equity and Justice Institute, a newly formed program at Crossroads, are also located at the Classroom Building.

Chapman University Rinker Campus Master Plan

October 18, 2022/in Education/by Jeffrey Morris

Rinker Health Science Campus, located in Irvine, is a satellite campus of Chapman University devoted to graduate education and research on the human health-related challenges of our time. Currently housed in a segregated group of office buildings, Rinker Campus is poised for transformation into a unified and interconnected environment that advances wellness and sustainability. JFAK produced a conceptual masterplan that conjoins three major components of Rinker Campus – a new parking structure, an East Quad, and a West Quad. Added programs such as a new fitness center, new research building, and active landscapes merge to form an interconnected center that will recruit new talent, inspire students, and enhance the community-at-large.

UC San Diego Main Gymnasium + Natatorium

October 18, 2022/in Education, Wellness, On the Boards/by Jeffrey Morris

JFAK is in the first phases of designing a complete renovation of UCSD’s Main Gym and Natatorium to update it for new contemporary fitness and athletics uses, as well as for a new generation of students and users. Originally completed in 1968, the buildings are excellent examples of mid-century modern architecture, and a portion of the buildings’ façade is historically protected. The project will include approximately 65,000 SF of renovation, restoration, and seismic retrofit, and an approximately 15,000 SF addition. The project will comprise a full seismic retrofit of both buildings. It is intended to be certified LEED Silver at minimum. We’re excited to be working with the UCSD community to breathe new life into this pair of iconic buildings.

Iovine & Young Center Phase 1

October 18, 2022/in Education/by Jeffrey Morris

The Iovine Young Center (IYC) is a progressive high school that will be located at the Audubon Middle School campus in the Leimert Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles. JFAK will work in collaboration with Iovine and Young Academy (IYA), the groundbreaking educational startup housed at USC and founded by Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, as well as its partner Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). IYC’s programming will be modeled on that of IYA, which combines design and the arts; engineering and computer science; business and venture management; and communication. Music and digital production; exploration of AI; applied design research; and immersive, hands-on makerspace/lab work will be actively on display. Core high school subjects will form the spine of the IYC curriculum. JFAK is engaged in two parallel tasks: renovation of two existing buildings to provide 14 inaugural classrooms and support spaces which finished September 2022 (Phase 1), and a longer master planning, design, and construction pathway that will culminate in the realization of IYC’s new, permanent home (Phase 2).

Academia Moderna Charter School

February 11, 2020/in Education, PROJECTS, Civic and Institutional/by SAdesignsJFAK

This project involved the full renovation of an existing two-story charter school in the Huntington Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Academia Moderna’s mission is to create life-long learning for students, and inspire them to be inquisitive, passionate, engaged, and independent. The school desired a transformation of their existing warehouse home to cultivate a “school” feeling within the industrial envelope. The project was designed specifically to make a more usable, functional, and lively space that would serve the students in pursuit of Academia Moderna’s mission.

To bring natural light deep within the building, hallways and classrooms alike benefit from the addition of well-placed skylights, reducing energy usage and promoting well-being. Throughout the project, the creative and strategic application of color and graphics creates a truly joyful learning environment for the elementary school students within. Completed on a tight budget, the Academia Moderna Charter School is an example of inspiring placemaking.

Wonderland Elementary School

February 11, 2020/in Education, PROJECTS, On the Boards/by SAdesignsJFAK

The new kindergarten classroom building at Wonderland Elementary School is an approximately 4,169 SF, sculptural one-story mass that is mostly curved in plan to present a soft edge towards the campus as well as to the existing two-story classroom building to its south. The design builds upon the idea that “wonder” can be expressed in an architecture that is simple, sculptural, light-filled, colorful, and full of unexpected moments and spaces of discovery.

The program calls for two kindergarten classrooms, student restrooms, faculty restroom, electrical and utility room, covered walkway to provide protection from inclement weather, and storage rooms that are accessible from the exterior. Toplight, provided through skylights and solatubes, is a key component of the design. Each classroom has a special circular reading nook that is toplit and will form the basis of small-group teaching, independent reading, and other special activities. The building is designed to meet Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) sustainability measures and is expected to be completed in 2023.

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