In Housing a School, Unused Commercial Space Sells Itself

Planners in urban school districts increasingly face a shortage of available real estate, often making site selection a lengthy and expensive process. Southern California’s exploding immigrant population left the Pomona School District with space for little else but creativity.

Two years after conceiving of the Pueblo Educational Village, the district now has two separate elementary schools and a conference center-totaling 110,000 square feet-anchoring a once-distressed shopping center. Project officials say that the conversion of an unused supermarket is drawing new retailers to the site; the mall has gone from an occupancy rate of 30 percent to over 90 percent. In addition, the mall’s original retailers report a 50 percent increase in sales, creating a growing tax base for the district and sales are expected to climb now that the first of 1,200 students started using the facilities in January. District officials currently are planning two more schools in vacant commercial buildings in distressed areas.

The conversion was designed by Thomas Blurock Architects of Costa Mesa, Calif., a firm specializing in education design and increasingly recognized for creative solutions in urban districts with special demands. Since design was finished, the firm has been busy presenting Pueblo Educational Village to districts throughout California and Hawaii. A presentation also was made to the Coalition for Adequate School Housing and, in November, representatives for California Governor Gray Davis visited the site.

Unconventional Site & Design

The 25-acre site was purchased for $5.5 million. When asked why a shopping center site was used, Barbara Helton-Berg, project architect and project manager, replies that, “number one, it made economic sense, and number two, it was fast. We shaved at least six to nine months off the design process.” She adds that “the design was approved by the Division of the State Architect (DSA) in 11 months, where 18 months would be typical for a new facility of this size.” The total cost of the project was $12.6 million at $120 per square foot.

Helton-Berg says the building itself teaches students about the structure’s history and the work required to create Pueblo Educational Village. “Below a datum plane of nine feet six inches, the facility is highly finished. Above that mark, the old guts of the building are left exposed. There’s a clear understanding that the polished spaces have been created for the students,” she says. “The schools inhabit the larger, older structure like a hermit crab.”

The two elementary schools are connected by a glass-enclosed media center in the middle of the facility, unifying the classroom clusters. Decorating the space is a see-through silk screen-that adheres glass like wallpaper-with a 10-foot tall mural depicting the history of transportation.

Each school has its own secondary commons area with skylights exceeding 50 feet in length. Skylights also illuminate interior corridors, built at non-linear angles to animate the facility. A color-coded compass pattern painted on the concrete floor orients students to the building’s different components.

Construction Challenges

The site originally contained a series of buildings with a common walkway. When the structure was converted to a mall in the 1970s, a skin was wrapped around all those buildings to enclose them. Unlike most malls, these structures were cobbled together, didn’t have a central plan, and each utilized separate HVAC systems and roofing structures.

“It was a big challenge giving the facility a uniform function,” said Assistant Superintendent Ed Marsh. “All the agencies involved helped us problem-solve to build this new animal.”

And there were a lot of problems to solve, including making sure this converted commercial space met California’s school construction and seismic requirements; the school is in earthquake country, only 50 miles from the epicenter of the 1994 Northridge earthquake and seismic requirements are much tighter since the supermarket was built in the 1970s.

But it is the huge, panelized roof that presented the toughest hurdle for both designers and builders. Helton-Berg’s plans required builders to remove a 6,000-square-foot section at the facility’s southeast corner to make way for high, clerestory glazing in the central commons area. At the northwest corner, another large section was removed to create a higher roof volume and a long span for the conference center.

The roof also was extended and placed on 35-foot-tall concrete columns. Not only does the overhang provide drop-off shelter for cars, but also creates outdoor lobby space for use during teacher conferences.

“The original roof was built to keep the rain out, and that’s about it,” says Construction Manager David Chapman of Pinner Construction Company Inc. “We had to strengthen this building, meet DSA requirements, and still try to keep it within the budget of a remodeling job.” Brace frames and grade beams were installed to bolster the roof system. The brace frames cut sheer through the center of the building tying the exterior walls together and making the box more rigid.

“It impresses me the way Pomona is developing these economically distressed, urban areas,” Chapman adds. “They’re creating something that’s not only pleasing architecturally, but is also usable. I think that helps the community all around us.”