Design Tech High School

Redwood City, Ca

Project Description

Adjacent to the San Francisco Bay, Design Tech High School (d.tech) is a ribbon-like building that runs along the edge of Oracle’s Silicon Valley campus_tying the natural shoreline school, and tech campus together. Capturing the region’s entrepreneurial spirit, d.tech provides a platform for students to learn experiment, and create. With a warehouse-like aesthetic, the interior acts as a blank canvas and tool shed for students and teachers to utilize in a myriad of ways. Break-out spaces are dispersed throughout the plan in a variety of types and scales, creating the connective spine of the building. At the heart of the school is a two-floor makerspace that provides flexible workshops for hands-on learning.

Responsibilities

  • Initiated the preliminary master plan design + provided site plan options to the city and the client

  • Studied alternative methods to approach interior layout programming and design

  • Core design: exit calculations, plumbing fixture requirements, etc.

  • Shell design: researched and selected exterior materials

  • Planning permit submittals

Project Highlights

  • 64,000-sf education facility

  • Two fabrication labs (6,000-sf)

  • Chemistry/biology labs

  • Flexible classroom neighborhoods

  • Break-out nooks

  • Two-story, multi-purpose lobby

  • 2 acres of public access

  • LEED NC Gold Target

Awards

  • SVBJ, Best Education Project

  • Sustainable San Mateo County, Green Building Award

  • Gold Nugget, Merit Award, Best Education Project