Thought to be the first school in the nation to be located in a public library, San Diego’s LEED Gold e3 Civic High combines a sustainable and creative learning environment that is a model for other districts. The co-location of a school within a library offers extensive collaboration opportunities, as both support lifelong learning and literacy.
The relationship between community and education is strengthened, and downtown San Diego becomes another classroom. Embracing a flexible school day, internship opportunities and hands-on learning, the design for e3 Civic High—which stands for “engage, educate and empower”—demonstrates value in creating personalized learning spaces.
Community Collaboration
Through a relationship between the City of San Diego, San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) and the San Diego Public Library Foundation, e3 Civic High School successfully ties education into the urban culture. The design process includes extensive research in technology and furniture solutions that enhance 21st century learning opportunities within the space.
A series of workshops were facilitated, composed of curriculum discussions, image sharing, building tours, and qualitative charrettes—defining the planning process. Given the unique location, collaboration with stakeholders was key; participants included:
- SDUSD officials
- Charter School leadership
- San Diego Library Foundation leadership
- The City of San Diego
- Headmaster and future teachers
- Students from neighboring charter and public schools
Connections to Urban Context
The school is intentionally set within the urban environment. Currently more than 50 percent of the students in downtown San Diego commute to other high schools in surrounding areas. E3 Civic High, which is open to all, creates a sustainable environment that is walkable for future students. Serving 500 students from grades nine through 12, the curriculum design engages students through internships, community services and college courses at local college and universities.
LPA’s challenge was to design a school setting that emphasized personalized learning while developing a creative campus approach, within the sixth and seventh floors of the new Downtown Public Library. Learning happens everywhere and the resulting design encourages communication and social responsibility through connections to the urban context.
The charter school is a project-based learning environment with spaces that support and inspire design thinking and project development. Studios are organized in villages clustered around a shared commons and teaming rooms. The design principles for the learning environment centralized around three ideas: personalization, social connections and flexibility.
For learning to happen everywhere, we understood that movement mattered. Regardless of the primary function, secondary uses were explored, developed and designed. In an age where technology can empower learning, the design team delivered an environment that will support hand-held devices and changing needs that allow the school to remain advanced and adaptable.
Intentional Design
Encouraging a collision-rich educational setting, several student-owned and self-directed opportunities for learning are found throughout the school. Educational spaces contributing to the physical environment include:
The Entry: An important characteristic for the entry of the school was for visitors to immediately connect with the students and feel the energy of the space. There is no lobby, no administration area—the school is owned and curated by the students.
The Park: This passive “living room” setting is characterized by controllable lighting, soft furniture and technology integration. Supporting the quiet learner, the Park doubles as a classroom space when cross-curriculum instruction demands a larger space.
The Plaza: An active gathering space on the seventh floor for presentation, performance and dining, the Plaza empowers students to explore their independent and educational career goals.
The Steps: Connecting the two floors, the central stair doubles as a social learning space. Finding flexibility in the educational environment is key to personalize learning space. Serving multiple functions, the Steps are a circulation space, a classroom, a physical education space and a place for industry speakers to engage with students.
The Interactive Wall: Linking the villages, the Interactive Wall is a wayfinding form one passes by walking from village to village. Through activity mapping exercises, we explored potential circulation paths of students, finding patterns that began to inform the design. This research-based design activity shaped the circulation into a break-out learning space where students can display in, write on and even sit in this connecting element. As a storefront of sorts, the wall becomes a place where students see the thoughts and process of other learners, this engagement and sharing establishes community.
The Gallery: Programmatically, the classrooms sit along the perimeter of the building with views to the exterior and natural daylighting opportunities. Alternatively, the design for the centrally located space is not something we owned but a blank canvas we prepared for the students of e3. Lined with whiteboard surfaces and specialty lighting, the Gallery celebrates the process of project development. As community moves through the school, the Gallery is another opportunity for students to share their work and passion of community engagement.
The concept for e3 Civic High was not to just think outside the box, but actually to ignore the box—and it has paid off. The school was recently recognized by the American Institute of Architects Committee on Architecture for Education (AIA-CAE) with the Walter Taylor Award. Earlier this year, the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH) and the American Institute of Architects California Council (AIACC) also recognized e3 Civic High School with an award of honor. The K-12 school was recognized in the Specialized Facility category. The jury commented on the design solution, “This project creates an excellent, and beautifully executed, example of changing the way we think about school design. We can understand why students would think this is a cool school to attend.”
“The recognition of e3 Civic High by a jury of both educators and architects celebrates the collaborative design effort necessary to rethink how students could engage in learning in an exciting and vibrant environment,” said LPA Principal Wendy Rogers, FAIA. “The school exemplifies what’s possible through innovation and that where we learn matters.”
A version of this story was originally shared on Integrated Sustainable Design. Kate Mraw is an Associate and Interior Designer at integrated sustainable design firm, LPA Inc. Her K-12 educational spaces encourage collaboration, experimentation and instruction. Mraw is a LEED Accredited Professional. She received her Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from the University of Texas, Austin School of Architecture.
Author: Kate Mraw, LEED AP BD+C, Design Director and Associate at LPA
