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

Session: 3A - Site Edges and Security

Scribe: Margaret Griffin

Attendees:
Steven Ehrlich
Frank Dimster

Key Issues:
How to create an inviting, open appearing exterior which also allows for a secure school environment.
How to create an exterior which has a clear public presence but one which also speaks to the character and quality of the surrounding neighborhood and community.
How to create a front to the building with a clear public entry, but also has the ability to manage breaking down the entry points so that ingress and egress through multiple manageable security check points can be accommodated.
How to make the community feel safe from the students.
How to make the students feel safe from the community.
How to make the students and teachers feel safe from each other. Enhancing internal visual connections for supervision as well as, breaking down large-scale schools into smaller scale schools with in schools, where teachers and students are more personally familiar with each other.

Constraints, Problems, and Design Opportunities:
Fences are a traditional means to create secure edges to school projects, however the extensive typical use of non aesthetic fencing material is also one of the factors leading to schools appearing disconnected to the communities and of jail like perimeters. Also many schools tend to limit openings to the front to help prevent break-ins, which also can impede the public presence of the school in the community.
Schools are supporting some community functions and spaces such as: multi purpose rooms, libraries, gyms, pool can be situated with better relationships to public places adjacent to the site or to the most public sides of the site to enhance connections with the community.
Landscaping is one device to create site edges, which can be secure and inviting and help link the schools to surrounding context.
Joint use school projects are one way to integrate a more public or community component however, for most of these joint uses there are additional complexities to the security and safety concerns.
Security is a challenging issue. Its is especially important to balance security concerns with desires for more democratic community space. The community is afraid of its own children, especially high school students and the students primary concern is feeling safe too. A recent LAUSD sixth grade class listed safety as its number one concern on a recent survey. Safety from the outside and safety from the inside are both critical. Students are coming to schools with weapons. Schools with out lockers and with security check points and metal detectors are realities of our future schools. As are schools which need to be able to maintain 3-10 minute perimeter shut down systems for disaster responses. How do we achieve this level of safety and security in our schools with out creating prison like settings? Better yet, how do we accomplish these needs and still create a place for freedom of thought, imagination and creative learning?

Solution Types:
One solution strategy to minimize fencing is to place the buildings at the edges of the sites so that much less fencing is required. With this solution type it becomes important to address the transparency of the building surface. And it is particularly important to reinvent how security, safety and openness can all coexist with a more open façade. It was suggested that the current guidelines for allowable materials and material qualities make it difficult to achieve an inviting enough quality to the exterior. More exploration to material possibilities beyond the current guidelines may be desirable.
Another related solution type is to place the buildings at the perimeter with a main courtyard entrance related to interior courtyards where the buildings can open up onto. In this type if there is a very open entry courtyard, the remaining exterior can be less transparent and still seem inviting.
The use of landscaping devices can also create more inviting edges to the schools, which can help to buffer spaces of the school projects to the communities as well as help to create strong connections with the community character. One school used landscaped berms to create a protective barrier that sectionally separates the protected playground from the community, while creating a green space that is sensitive to the surrounding context.
Some schemes separate the program into different buildings to surround a main space where visual site lines are maximized to create smaller scholastic communities within the larger school. This helps to create a place where teachers and students are more personally familiar with each other and enhances the felling of safety.
Other schemes allow the edges to operate at different scales in relation to the various scales of the surrounding context. And use public spaces as well as green space at the perimeter as a buffer to the community.
Yet other schemes create a more public space towards the front of the facility often near some of the more public spaces such as the gym, library multi purpose room etc. Then locate the fencing with a more secured courtyard space beyond.
For joint use scenarios, security issues are more complex and the solution types have yet to be fully explored. Complexity occurs from the juxtaposition of more public functions in conjunction with the school functions. Separating the circulation patterns is important.

Examples:
Belmont/Hollywood New Primary Care #2, Rios and Associates

Van Nuys New Elementary School #1, LHA

Manual Arts New Elementary #3, Architectonica

Marshal New Primary Care #1, Studio Works / Jerde

Ramona New Elementary, Tetra Design

East Valley Area New Middle School #1, Johnson / Fain

Belmont New Elementary School #9, Perkins & Will

Hollywood Central High School #1, Perkins & Will

Central LA Area New Middle School #4, Steven Ehrlich

Gratts New Primary Care, Jubany

East Valley Area New High School #2, Langdon / Wilson

Accelerated Charter School, Marmol Radzinger + Associates

Central LA Area New High School, Studio Works / Jerde

Jefferson New Primary Care, Tetra Design

Central LA Area New High School, A. C. Martin

E. Los Angeles New High School #1, Nadel Architects

Belmont New Elementary School #6, Perkins & Will

SE Area New Learning Center, WLC Architects

Manual Arts Elementary School (Science Museum School), Morphosis

Recommendations:
The development of the site edges at school projects is a very complex issue that is obviously very site specific due to the diverse neighborhood conditions throughout Los Angeles. If the architects are given more time to develop their schematic designs, then more time can be spent evaluating this critical issue. It would also be useful to have architects participate in the site selection and evaluation. Likewise the projects where the architects have studied the site beyond its edges have a more sophisticated understanding of the neighbor hood, the context and how to create a new school which can be a safe place for students and a community amenity. Can we reinvent the edges to accomplish both of these needs more easily?
Can we also study how we make the physical quality of the edges? The current guidelines for glazing on building fronts need to be re-evaluated. Is it possible to find new transparent materials, which can accommodate a greater security? Can we use the buying power of the LAUSD and go to manufacturers to help create new materials to solve these issues? Also, can the school district develop a means to disseminate information to other architects when they are working with a particular architect to material changes to the guidelines?
Another way to be more inventive with developing the edges is to integrate landscape as a larger component for the schools. Developing the landscape component can help soften security edges and create links to the communities.
The use of more advance technologies on site can also help with the safety of our schools? Can we use technology more effectively and help open up our schools? Also if we are going to see more use of metal detectors, can the design of these be looked at so they are not as foreboding? And if we are looking at "defensible schools can the police or security advisors be brought in during the conceptual and programming stages? And can the architects get a better understanding from the district of these needs?
Community building does enhance security. If the inside is more opened up, for instance if it is possible to see into the classrooms from the corridors, then there is an enhancement of visual connections, which can aid community building. Another vehicle for this is to find ways to break down the scales of larger schools, so that it may be possible to create smaller more accountable communities with in the larger school.
Finally, one of the most important ways to build safer schools is to create places where everyone teachers and students are excited about coming to school and engaging in the learning process. Ensuring that the school budget is appropriate enough to both the size and number of children at the school and to the specific site planning needs of each differing site can help improve the ability to be more inventive in solving the site edges and safety concerns.