San Diego High School

Administration & Classroom Building

K-12 Education
CA San Diego

The San Diego High School Administration & Classroom Building (Building 100) was built in 1976 as a 2-story building addition to the historic school campus. The original design utilized muted colors and materials, minimal glazing, and a stark geometry common for the era. The building was described as not welcoming, non-responsive to its context and unsuitable as a welcoming marker for modern-day academic campus in a lively urban setting.

The building, highly visible on the Park Boulevard thoroughfare, is the main entrance and campus identity for the downtown community. Challenges brought to the design team began with two primary needs:

Modernize the existing building’s interior academic, student services, and administrative areas to address flexible academic pedagogy.
Re-envision the school image and create a welcoming sense of arrival seen from Park Boulevard and Downtown San Diego.

Architects Mosher Drew, Modern architecture San Diego, San Diego High School, San Diego schools, Modern architects, contemporary architecture, administrative building design, high school architecture, educational facilities, school campus design, functional spaces, efficient school structures, campus planning, classroom design, educational spaces, modern classroom layouts, functional learning environments, classroom interior design, student-centered design

The design team determined successful modernization of the building should incorporate a ‘gateway entrance experience’ to enhance urban connectivity. The design includes a light-filled 2-story lobby and dramatic canopy structure and a new exterior ‘skin’, redefining ‘front door’ for this historic campus and creating a fresh, iconic image notable for the community and stimulating for students and visitors.

Design for the interior incorporates new learning environments and flex gathering spaces, carefully weaved throughout the building and outward to the campus, strengthening pedestrian connectivity and academic vitality. Enhanced natural daylighting stimulates healthy learning experiences in classrooms and the lobby, while each building floor includes modernized, flexible classrooms for diverse academic programs, faculty and administration areas, common spaces and collaborative study areas.