AECOM worked with the Lakewood City Schools to renovate their 25 acre high school campus. AECOM provided the full suite of design services including architecture, building engineering, environmental services, civil engineering, landscape architecture, interior design, and geotechnical engineering. The work included the overall re-design of the site, the design of a new 149,000 sq. ft. academic wing and the complete renovation of 268,850 sq. ft. of space that houses a new gymnasium, community health center, and cafeteria.
Given that the campus sits within a built-out urban condition, there was no opportunity to expand and therefore the new and renovated buildings had to be closely coordinated with the site design to provide safe and efficient access circulation. The high school campus also serves to provide the City with several other publicly accessible facilities including a civic auditorium, community pool, and community health center.
Because the site also houses these additional shared facilities, the overall design required an in depth understanding of the logistics associated with the daily site activities and the specific circulation and infrastructure needs for each of those uses. To avoid the school becoming too dominant within the neighborhood, the structure was pulled away from the Right of Way and the facade of the structure was softened with new green space and planting. Significant considerations and accommodations were made to provide buffering and decorative fencing that addressed concerns of neighboring residential structures.