BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The DLR Group will provide integrated master planning, architecture and interior design services for the long-awaited Beverly Hills High School (BHHS) Modernization Project.

The project entails a complete modernization that includes additions to the 510,000-square-foot school’s B1, B2, B3 and B4 buildings.

In what BHHS calls a “full structural seismic retrofit,” the new campus will be a combination of modernized existing buildings as well as new buildings, designed to harmonize with the original 1928 building. Significant work will be done to Building B1 and Building B2 in Phase 1 of the modernization project. Construction for B1 will include a new media center, new college and career centers, new public restrooms, teacher workrooms, staff offices, and a reading center.

Construction for B2 will include 10 Classrooms with flexible partition walls, new public restrooms, conference and workrooms, speech and independent study areas, principal and staff offices, counseling center, and an ASB Center. The Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) contracted the DLR Group as the Architect of Record for the project in July of 2012.

SCN originally covered this project back in November of 2011 when the DLR Group won a conceptual design competition by a unanimous vote of judges to modernize Beverly Hills High School at an estimated cost of $150 million. Since then, Karen MacIntyre, RA, LEED AP BD+C with the DLR Group, says that renovations on the first two buildings B1 and B2 are currently underway, and are scheduled for completion in 2021.

The DLR Group and BHUSD officials remain tight-lipped about the project, as a lawsuit has been filed against the Federal Transit Administration and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for a different kind of construction project underground.

The Los Angeles County Metro has plans to drill a subway tunnel 70 feet below BHHS at the same time construction of the modernization project, which started back in April, continues for the next 30 months.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a $9-billion subway extension, commonly referred to as the “Purple Line,” will be broken up into three phases that includes connecting the current terminus in Koreatown to Beverly Hills and Century City by 2025.

In January, the school district announced that it was filing a lawsuit against the FTA, and the Metro, but is still moving forward with plans for the modernization on BHHS.

“The primary impact will be on B1 and B2 because they go directly under B1 and B2,” said Terry Tao, an attorney representing BHUSD. “The only impact on those buildings would be sound and vibration.”

At full build-out, nearly the entire 24-acre site at BHHS will be redeveloped to maximize usable area for regulation-sized athletic fields, and to create a pedestrian-focused campus by placing parking underground.

The Swim Gym made famous in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” will be restored, and a new pedestrian plaza will replace the existing Heath Avenue that cuts through the campus. New educational specifications will guide the development of innovative 21st Century learning environments, focused on learning villages and flexible common space. The facility program includes three different theaters, a highly advanced TV studio, a robotics lab, an art gallery/welcome center, a fitness club, a planetarium, new gymnasiums and athletic fields, and an Olympic-size aquatics facility.

Tao said that Phase 1 is currently in the “construction document approval phase,” and that plans for buildings B3 and B4 are forthcoming.

“Eventually we’re going to do [Building] A, but that’s not on their agenda yet,” said Tao.

A report from the Los Angeles Times contributed to this story.

The post Beverly Hills HS Embarks on $150 Million Modernization Project appeared first on School Construction News.

The new building will be constructed adjacent to the school’s existing campus and will add approximately 200,000 square feet to the campus footprint. Gehry will design three performance venues as well as an outdoor performance area, classrooms, a dance rehearsal center, and student and guest-artist housing. The expansion will also see an 1,100-seat concert hall and a 700-seat flexible studio theater for dance and vocal performances. An additional 100-seat cabaret-style space will likewise provide a space for students to strut their stuff in a more intimate setting.

Collaborating with Gehry, who is the principal and founder of Los Angeles-based Gehry Partners, is Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics (acoustician for projects, including Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany) and Michael Ferguson, principal of TheatreDNA.

The current Colburn School facilities date back 20 years to when the school relocated to its 102,000-square-foot home in downtown Los Angeles. That structure was designed by the former Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates. Then in 2007, the renamed firm of Pfeiffer Partners Architects designed the Colburn School’s adjoining 326,000-square-foot expansion.

“We are excited to announce a multidimensional project that not only will serve future generations of Colburn students, but also will create a crossroads for the performing arts in L.A. for musicians and dancers, both established and aspiring,” said Sel Kardan, president and CEO of the Colburn School, in a statement. “In selecting Frank Gehry for this ambitious project, we have chosen an architect with an extraordinary track record of designing educational and performance spaces, an unshakeable sense of public purpose, deep roots in Los Angeles, and a commitment to the young people of this region and young artists around the world.”

Gehry concurred with Kardan’s sentiments regarding the project. “The expansion of the Colburn School fills an important addition to the long-held dream to create a cultural district in downtown Los Angeles. The school is already an incredible asset and major player, and the expansion is a great opportunity to add breadth to this dream,” said Gehry in a statement.

The expansion of the Colburn School marks Gehry’s third building project in the area — among them the iconic (and sometimes controversial) Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The post Frank Gehry Tapped to Design Colburn School Expansion appeared first on School Construction News.

“Massive in scale, timeless in design, USC Village is a new kind of space where living and learning come together,” according to a statement about the latest project of the University of Southern California (USC).

The project also happens to be the biggest development in the history of south Los Angeles. A $700-million investment funded entirely by USC, the development includes six buildings, totaling 1.25 million square feet of space on 15 acres. USC Village combines residential college living for 2,500 students with retail choices never before seen in the neighborhood.

The man who saw to that the project was built on time and on budget is Director of Construction Willy Marsh. He spent thousands of hours on the project. And now he’s done — almost. Among the topics explored in this lively interview with Marsh are the innovations he and his team employed to complete six buildings on time and on budget. Among them was a new building technique to finish exterior brick walls that used 2,500 pre-cast panels measuring 24 feet x 12 feet and weighing 9,000 pounds each, and were assembled off site, then delivered and installed.

The panels consisted of of brick, grout, precast window surrounds, rebar and concrete, according to Marsh. By using this method, the six buildings were “skinned” in a relatively quick 11 months. Had traditional methods been used, it’s estimated that the same process would have taken at least 1.5 years longer to complete. Throughout, the off-site fabrication helped maintain high levels of quality control.

Having the panels installed with cranes also eliminated the need for scaffolding, which saved time and reduced risks to workers’ safety.

As Marsh said in an interview with the USC News, “I’m sitting back a little more in the chair now because of these critical milestones we’ve achieved.”

The post PODCAST: Willy Marsh, The Man Who Built USC Village appeared first on School Construction News.