Santa Monica High School Discovery Building

HED, in collaboration with Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners, designed a dramatic new academic complex that transforms Santa Monica High School’s (SAMOHI’s) North Campus. Benefitting both school and the surrounding community, the complex elevates educational, cultural and recreational pursuits; improves campus access and circulation; and supports whole child development and diverse learning styles.

From arts and athletic facilities to larger, light-filled classrooms, enhanced support spaces to reorganized outdoor spaces, the five-story, 280,000 square foot complex fosters social interactions and strengthens the sense of community on SAMOHI’s campus.

Wrapped around an open entry courtyard, this innovative structure is designed as an “open building,” with a flexible, open-column grid, raised floor and non-load bearing walls which can be reconfigured over time. Sustainable as well as flexible, the new complex features displacement ventilation, photovoltaic and solar thermal arrays and a two-story living green wall.

Redefining traditional classrooms and taking full advantage of the California climate, large shade trees and landscape rooms also serve as teaching, dining and gathering spaces. Outdoor classrooms—including a rooftop hydroponic garden and science classroom—connect students with the natural world, supporting experiential, hands-on learning.

Interior classrooms are organized around common spaces, building on this sense of belonging, identity and interconnectivity. Supporting diverse teaching and learning styles in the present, the classrooms easily adapt to evolving pedagogical approaches and uses, thanks to the structure’s flexible, innovative open building concept and operable glass walls.

Additional features include a publicly accessible 50-meter pool, a central kitchen and dining facility, medically fragile suite and labs and parking. A maker space and career tech labs support SAMOHI’s “Project Lead the Way” program.

Replacing the existing science and technology buildings, the new complex joins the recently completed Innovation Building in transforming the SAMOHI campus, serving the school community and surrounding region—flexibly and sustainably—for years to come.

Santa Monica High School is currently undergoing a multi-year, multi-phase campus redevelopment and renovation plan that will touch almost every building on the Malibu campus.

One of the new buildings that was added to the campus is the Discovery Building, a three-story, open-plan building which features more than 35 classrooms, including state-of-the-art computer and science labs, offices, common areas, seminar rooms, a full Olympic-size swimming pool, indoor and outdoor dining facilities and raised access floors with Underfloor Service Distribution.

The educational building was built utilizing the open building model, which requires a high level of flexibility. In this instance, the educational spaces are built on raised access floors with Underfloor Service Distribution to promote flexibility. By placing electric, plumbing, heating and air conditioning under the floor, you create a more flexible space that can be easily reconfigured to accommodate future changes in classroom layout and technology. Additionally, none of the classroom walls are structure supporting, which means they can be removed or relocated to reconfigure the space easily. John Dale, principal of HED Design, spoke of the ways raised floors contributed to the building's flexibility.

"Employing a raised floor system in all instructional spaces in the new Discovery Building was a critical aspect of designing for ongoing/future change," Dale said. "The raised floor has facilitated a displacement ventilation approach to heating and cooling, using the space below as a giant plenum which can provide air wherever it is needed, even as spaces get reconfigured. Providing power and data through a raised floor system also facilitates change. It has already proven possible to make changes in the way teachers want to use their spaces, even during construction."

In addition to the flexibility the raised floors provide to the building and its occupants, the Underfloor Air Distribution brings an added element of sustainability and improved indoor air quality to the space, which can increase occupant comfort and encourage a safe and healthy learning environment. During the Green California Schools Annual Summit, Santa Monica High School was awarded the designation of Best School for its sustainability and flexibility initiatives. 

The Discovery Building is built to withstand both the known and unforeseen challenges of 21st century educational environments and will be beneficial to the building's students, teachers and staff for years to come.