As an innovative career training program, Great Oaks set out to create spaces that reinforced their priorities: Respecting the Student; Activating the Learning Environment; and Creating a Sense of Place. Live Oaks is one of their Career Tech facilities for High School students, originally built in 1971. The existing facility was unwelcoming with a receding, dark entry that posed security risk with no barrier into the school and broken site lines for student supervision. This project set out to create a strong identity with a new entry and façade refresh as well as an extensive interior renovation to rethink the circulation, safety, and add more space for classrooms and collaboration.
The new entry stands tall of the low, hunkering mass of the existing lab wings. The entrance is now clarified and creates a welcoming and bright environment while maintaining important site lines. The lobby leads you into the central student Commons and paths where you’ll find the career programs organized into mini “academies.” The second floor is where all the core curriculum is grouped.
It was important to create a professional environment where the students felt respected and their passion for a chosen career path could unfold with discovery and wonder.
