GreenDot Animo High School, South Los Angeles by Brooks + Scarpa Architects

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This new public school for 500 studentsby Brooks + Scarpa Architects is located in a tough South Los Angeles neighborhood almost directly under the flight path into LAX and adjacent to the very busy 105 Century freeway. The design was influenced by the New Orleans architects Curtis and Davis who designed and built many schools in the early 1950s in Louisiana. Their designs adapted to the local climate without using air conditioning, creating sustainable light filled and poetic spaces for kids to learn.

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Similarly, this project is designed to enhance passive sustainable strategies. It allows for abundant natural light, ventilation and view, while shading itself and inducing airflow. The south facade is clad with 650 solar panels that shade the building and provides 75% of the energy needs for the school. Implementing these strategies will reduce carbon emissions by over 3 million pounds.

Taking full advantage of the region's temperate climate, the designers eschewed the fully contained "big box" idiom of conventional schools on the primary use site. Instead, a landscaped courtyard with multifunctional "bleacher" terracing flows into the open-air covered lobby and the multilayered paseo, lending the school the appeal of a collegiate campus and offering significant environmental benefits—improving daylighting and access to fresh air both inside and out—while providing substantial cost savings by limiting artificial lighting and thermal conditioning to the smaller enclosed spaces.

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Green Dot Public Schools is leading the charge to transform public education in Los Angeles and beyond so that all children receive the education they need to be success- ful in college, leadership, and life. Green Dot envisions a public school system in L.A. made up of small, excellent schools that encourage and welcome parental involvement and opinions, support teacher creativity, and educate students at their highest and best levels-no matter what their background. Green Dot has built great high schools in Los Angeles to prove that urban high schools can be successful with the right model. In addition, Green Dot is working with LAUSD, the Mayor of Los Angeles and other political leaders, the State of California, the gov- ernment, the general public, teachers' unions and other groups to influence the re- forms required to improve the quality of urban schools in Los Angeles, and ultimately throughout the state and the nation.