Kim Coleman
Associate Professor, University of Southern California School of Architecture

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LAUSD elementary school mixed-use development, site proposals
Eight different sites on which projects are currently proposed for the Los Angeles Unified School District are considered in the studio. The projects combine an elementary school program with ancillary civic, commercial, and/or residential functions. The sites were selected because of their location on active streets in neighborhoods that have a mix of commerical and residential uses and have street edges appropriate for public activities. Because elementary schools, for security and safety reasons, are required to be insular and separated, they tend not to give back much activity to the street, except for the brief times when the students are arriving and departing. As well, the multi-purpose rooms and outdoor spaces of the schools are under-utilized on evenings and weekends, when they could be productive spaces for residents of their communities. Students have examined the sites and program issues to determine suitable activities that might be overlaid on the school functions. The resulting projects propose new hybrids that allow different and sometimes non-overlapping functions to coexist on a site, test how additional functions might coexist with elementary schools to enrich neighborhoods, activate the street, and provide additional space through overlapping uses at different times of day and week, and search for processes that continue and enrich the unique urban structure of Los Angeles.

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HYBRID STUDIO FALL 2003 student work

Beverly & Kingsley
Vermont & 1st
Olympic & Blaine (Primary Center)
Vermont & 112th (Primary Center)