Lessons Learned: A Symposium on School Design
LAUSD / USC School of Architecture / J . PAUL GETTY Trust

Session: 2B - Multi-Use and Community

Scribe: John Enright

Attendees:
John Mutlow
Leo Marmol

Key Issues:
The joint-use of school libraries, athletic fields, and multi-purpose rooms with the surrounding communities.
Joint-use agreements between LAUSD and other partners.
The shear number and scope of the total future build-out of LAUSD schools requires by their very nature to become future centers and "beacons" to the community.
The question was posed as to how is the community's role in the use of schools defined.

Constraints, Problems, and Design Opportunities:
Joint-use is an opportunity to maximize the resources of a school and the community, the fact that many areas of a school are actually used for only six to seven hours of a given day means that there are many ways to use the spaces "after hours."

Each potential joint-use agreement is specific and special to each project, each are "one-offs" and do not facilitate prototypes which can be reused in the district as a model.

Many partners in joint-use are lacking in planning ability and do not have clearly defined goals or master plans. Many are also lacking in funding for future maintenance costs.

Some of the Department of Education regulations can be obstacles to joint-use projects, however, the department has begun to give credit to joint-use projects in some cases.

So called "turf wars" can occur between different users in joint-use facilities and teachers can be adverse to night-time sharing of their classrooms.

Given the small urban sites of most projects, designing joint-use can be difficult.

Community participation in the design process can become an obstacle, given the short time allocated to schematic design. One participant cited an example of presenting a schematic design to a community group and receiving comments, only to be directed by the district to not incorporate them into the design.

Since the time required to plan and construct most projects is usually years, it is rare that the school principal or staff is involved in the design process. Most school principals are assigned or hired after the project has been constructed.

Solution Types:
The best schools have a large amount of parent involvement, this emphasizes the importance of schools as community centers.

An "open" architecture can stimulate community involvement in schools. Designing a sense of openness towards the surrounding area creates a facility which encourages parents and the public to participate in the school. This needs to be balanced with the need for security at all campuses.

A school in San Jose has developed what is being called a "downtown school" where the larger urban area is treated as a campus, thereby creating a physical link with the community and city.

Architects could be brought in earlier to discuss the acquisition of properties and be able to consult regarding their potential as school sites. The thirty day schematic design timeline does not always allow for the exploration of all the issues a certain site may have. This is important since many times the purchase and acquisition of a site has begun months or years before the architects are allowed to begin work.

The definition of "community" can be defined by the geographic area surrounding a specific school, yet presently a large number of children are bused from different areas. It is hoped through the building of new schools that LAUSD will omit mandatory busing within six years.

One way to deal with large schools is to break them into smaller clusters of schools within the campus, thus dividing the school into multiple internal communities.

Examples:
Central Area New MS #4
The Accelerated School
Jefferson new PC #6
East Valley Area New HS #1A

Recommendations:
The next round of projects will most likely have even smaller sites than those being planned presently. This will increase the difficulty of developing joint-use projects and encouraging community use of schools. Architects can help interface between the community and the school district by incorporating community input into their designs. This may include comments from the children of a specific school, or even the involvement of local artisans to provide integrated artwork. The district needs to assess and reevaluate the time required to allow community input in the thirty day schematic design stage.

Boundaries of schools are always an important issue with the surrounding residents, this is magnified as schools become centers for the community. Identifying specific community and neighborhood groups, potential joint-use partners, and shared facilities needs to be defined at the earliest possible stage of project planning to ensure that architects are given sufficient time and information in order to implement these special design considerations.

Attention must paid to the challenge of meeting the needs of various potential joint-use facilities. The cooperation of different public and private agencies is a prerequisite to the success of any shared facility.

LAUSD Comments and Clarifications:
Some schools are being planned with joint-use playgrounds with the Department of Parks and Recreation. Some problems have occurred between differing standards of construction between the district and the department, as well as a difficulty in dealing with maintenance issues inherent in park usage by school children. Mayor Hahn's office has appointed a contact person to help the district interface with other agencies.

The overall curriculum is being studied by the district, some innovations have been studied, but must have approval from the teacher's union.