Mayfield Junior School Masterplan

With multiple design charrettes, interviews, and extensive site observations, Berliner Architects explored the issues and opportunities within the Mayfield Junior School’s campus with teachers, staff, and board members and began to develop a comprehensive master plan to elevate campus learning environments and better serve Mayfield Junior School’s students and staff. The stakeholders identified key issues with campus layout, building utilization, and landscaping that informed the new plan. Berliner took the private school’s budgeting constraints into consideration and designed a plan that could be accomplished in phases over time to allow for fundraising while causing minimal disruption on the active campus.

The masterplan addresses many of Mayfield’s concerns with a new curved library at the center of campus that redefines campus circulation and creates courtyards for daily activities such as morning prayer and lunch. The new library will include an expanded library, art studios, makerspace, robotics lab, academic support spaces, and counseling offices.

Landscaping throughout the campus will be updated to incorporate native plants, water features, and outdoor learning environments.

SMPS Marketing Communication Award Win!

Berliner Architects won a Marketing Communication Awards from SMPS|LA for our Mayfield Junior School Proposal! The Berliner team worked hard on this pursuit incorporating a more personal touch, even including the Berliner Office Dog Betty!

The SMPS Leonardo Awards were held at the new Banc of California Stadium and was a wonderful celebration of some of the best marketing in the AEC industry. Check out this amazing video below from Jun Tang to see more from the awards!

Video : Jun Tang - Photography - www.juntangphotography.com Films - www.magiclightmedia.com

HOLA Door Design Competition

Berliner Architects held an in-office competition to choose a design for the garage door on the new Heart of Los Angeles Campus designed by the Berliner team in Lafayette Park! Cherry Yang, one of our inspiring summer interns, had the winning design - brightly colored, overlapping circles inspired by existing murals that will bring color to the park facing facade.

Bright Star Schools Stella Middle Charter Academy is Under Construction

Construction on the new three-story building for Bright Star Schools’ Stella Middle Charter Academy is booming! The new middle school includes a classroom building, gym, and shaded lunch area for 500 students, which will be located in the vacant space on an existing church site and share a 134-space parking lot. Construction began in November of 2018 and is set to complete next month.

The 21 classroom school was designed with exposed wood beam ceilings, wood-look vinyl tiles not typically used in schools, and bright pops of the school colors to create a warm, home-like feel for the students. Inclusivity and safety were important in the design as well - Stella Middle Charter Academy features single occupant, gender neutral restrooms throughout. These restrooms, which open directly into the hallway, not only accommodate all students, but can help mitigate the bullying that can take place in more private, traditional school restrooms.

Berliner Architects Welcomes Project Architect Eric Rutgers

Berliner Architects welcomes Eric Rutgers, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, to our team. Eric is a licensed architect who is excited to bring his higher education and private school design knowledge and experience to Berliner. Eric is passionate about creating unique spaces and believes that architecture should bring people and their ideas together.

Hoover Institution Conference Center

Eric’s experience includes his role as Design Architect on the Hoover Institution Conference Center, a new headquarters and event space for the public policy think-tank at Stanford University. This 55,000SF building boasts a 400 person auditorium, a 440 person dining hall, a multi-use event pavilion, and a second floor office suite. Centered on the iconic Hoover Tower the glass multi-use pavilion took cues from the historic main quad and was designed to create a public forecourt and semi-private main courtyard. Eric worked extensively on the design, from research and implementation of precast panel concrete construction to the custom designed auditorium chairs on this $55,000,000 construction project.

Hoover Institute Auditorium & Custom Designed Chairs.

The Hoover Institution’s Conference Center was honored with an AIA Merit award from the Silicon Valley Chapter of AIA who’s jury said “The architecture, through its transparency and spirit, sends the message that Hoover Institution is vibrant and engaged with the university, The design detailing is tailored both inside and out, with scale and rhythm, while respecting its important neighbor, the main quad and acknowledging and deferring to the Hoover Tower axis.”

Nobel and Greenough, Putnam Library

Eric’s previous experience also includes leading the design of the Nobel and Greenough’s Putnam Library which serves as central gathering space for the entire school. Nobel and Greenough (Nobels) is a coeducational, nonsectarian day and five day boarding school serving grades seven through twelve. The Campus’s new Inquiry Center includes the campus library as well as maker and innovation spaces. The design paid utmost respect to the grounds of the school, which were designed by famed Landscape Architect Frederick Law Olmsted, by blending with the woodland landscape, maintaining pedestrian walkways, and opening up to the campus green.

The interior spaces are designed to inspire innovation and collaboration, which include makers spaces, conference rooms, the research library as well as a large central common area that opens into the green, allowing for full campus events as well as an everyday work and collaboration environment for students.

Eric’s experience with both Higher Education and Private School design adds to the Berliner Architects team’s passion in designing for the future generation and we are excited to introduce him as a member of the Berliner Team.

C.A.S.H. Award of Merit for Alliance Morgan McKinzie HS and Middle Academy 8

We're proud to announce Alliance Morgan Mckinzie HS & Middle Academy 8 won a CASH/AIACC Merit Award!

Thank you to Alliance and the entire team, we're honored to be among some of the best designs in education.

check out the Alliance Project Page for more photos and project info

https://www.berliner-architects.com/expanded-alliance

The LA Business Journal Names Berliner Architects one of the Top 50 Architecture Firms in LA

Berliner Architects moved up the LA Business Journal’s annual List from 50 to 48 this year! We’d like to say thank you to all of our clients for helping us grow.

The LA Business Journals Lists provide comprehensive data and statistics on top-ranked Los Angeles companies across all industries. Each of these surveys is then compiled into the Los Angeles Business Journal's invaluable resource - the annual Book of Lists.

Redesigned Website!

We recently redesigned our website! We updated our navigation, added more projects, and created expanded project pages with more information. Scroll through to see the new changes and updates! 

Browse the new pages here!

East Los Angeles Middle School Almost Complete

Sunshades were installed on our new Middle School in East Los Angeles as it’s getting ready to open at the end of November. As construction wraps up, finishing touches are being applied both inside and out so the school is ready to welcome students in the new year!

Loyola Law School Founders Hall Recognized by American School & University

Berliner’s work on Loyola Law School’s Founders Hall was recently recognized as an Outstanding Interior Renovation design by American School & University in their August 2018 Educational Interiors Showcase issue.

The nation’s school and university administrators, as well as education architects, turn to American School & University for how-to features, insight, industry exclusive reports and research on the planning, design, construction, retrofit, operations, maintenance, security and management of education facilities. AS&U’s mission is to continue serving as the voice of the industry – not just reporting events, but also helping to shape the rapidly growing and evolving education facilities and business market. AS&U delivers important insight to today’s decision makers.

The interior of Loyola Law School’s Founders Hall had gone mostly untouched since the 1950s. As the administrative hub of the campus, it includes the Office of Admissions and the Social Justice Law Clinic. As the first point of introduction for prospective students, the refreshed Admissions Office on the first floor impresses with a modern and professional yet warm and inviting environment for students, faculty, and staff. The new interconnecting stairs helps to bridge the two floors with improved circulation. The portal at the landing of the stairs allow for a pleasant transition to the second floor, leading to the Social Justice Law Clinic where clients from underserved communities can access affordable and pro-bono legal services. A new bar style work bench and comfortable lounge chairs offer a safe and productive space for client consultations and attorney practice.

East Los Angeles Middle School Progress

The Berliner Architects team recently visited the site of a new Charter Middle School in East LA. The new academy will serve 450 students, grades 6-8, and have a technology and innovation focused curriculum. The school was designed for a tight urban lot with surrounding buildings and a neighborhood to contend with. BA ultimately built the school, a type 3B structure, with three stories to accommodate the programming requirements on the small L-shaped lot while avoiding the commercial buildings on the northern side. The 1st floor is a non-combustible concrete podium and the upper two floors are wooden framed. 22 classrooms, a multi-purpose room, and 3 specialty rooms for art, music, and innovation create a 36,000 SF school.

The spacious 3,400 SF multi-purpose room on the western side of the school provides ample space for assemblies, performances, and social gatherings, as well as athletic activities, including cross-fit training.  Designed with a huge garage door to maximize the indoor/outdoor space, the MPR opens onto an artificial turf play yard adjacent to the partially covered parking lot and drop-off zone.

The drop-off zone was designed without sharp turns or obstructions to ease the flow of pick up and drop off on the busy urban lot. The western and northern facades are wrapped with a green screen as per county requirements to lessen the risk of vandalism. The Olympic and Record Ave corner of the MPR is angled to accommodate pedestrian foot traffic on the street corner. A balcony offers views of the MRP from the 2nd floor classroom corridor. A rooftop deck above the MPR offers panoramic views of downtown Los Angeles.  

The angled corner from inside the MPR

The upper floors were designed with minimal hallways to maximize classroom space and ease navigation and improve circulation. Classrooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors feature angled setback walls along the south side to break up the traditional long, straight, uniform corridor effect that many schools have as well as provide a visual trademark to the building. The majority of the classrooms face the southern, neighborhood side of the school while larger specialty classrooms are situated on the northern side of the building. Angled windows on the south side take advantage of morning sunlight in and have overhangs to limit warming in the afternoons.  

Construction is set to be completed in November 2018 and the school will open in 2019. 

The second floor corridor. 

Project Manager Lautaro Galvez, lead a tour of junior architects from the Berliner Team, teaching them lessons learned throughout the way. For some of the junior architects this was their first time on a commercial construction site and a ton of questions were asked. See below for snap shots from the tour! 

Summer 2018 - Newsletter

Berliner Architects recently completed construction on a new middle and high school for Alliance Public Schools on First Street in East Los Angeles. The design of the project was driven by the desire to reinforce, invigorate, and revitalize the surrounding community.  The two schools making up the First Street Campus are: Morgan McKinzie HS and College Ready Middle Academy 8.

For years the site had been home to the First Street Store, a department store that played an important role on this street, which is lined with two story buildings with storefront retail on the first floor and apartments above.  The store is unique in that its façade contained 17 tile murals (5’x11’) depicting the Chicano history of this largely Hispanic community. The department store, however, had been vacant for several years, these murals were incorporated into the new First Street Campus and serve as a vital core for the surrounding community, many of which attend the new Middle & High School.

Berliner Architects recently completed the Founders Hall Project on the Loyola Law School Campus. As the student services hub of the campus, Loyola Law School's Founders Hall is the first point of introduction for prospective students and houses the Office of Admissions and the Social Justice Law Clinic. Largely untouched since the 1950s, The Admissions Office on the first floor was overdue for a refresh and is now a warm and inviting environment for students, faculty and staff. The new stairway improves circulation throughout the first and second floors and draws visitors upstairs to the new Social Justice Law Clinic.

Alliance East LA - Photographing Two New Schools

We recently worked with Photographer Tom Bonner to photograph our new construction project for Alliance for College Ready Public Schools. the alliance school incorporates a middle and high school on a tight urban lot in East Los Angeles.

Read more about the Project Here. 

Pressman Academy Groundbreaking Gala

These renderings were created to celebrate the groundbreaking gala at Pressman Academy.

The Berliner Team would like to Congratulate Temple Beth Am on their 2018 Gala honoring Karen Fried, VP of Education, and Susan Hetsroni, President Board of Trustees. The theme of this year’s Gala was “Groundbreaking”, commemorating the beginning of the Sanctuary Renovation and the Pressman Academy Middle School, both slated to break ground this year.

The New Pressman Academy Middle School building encourages student agency, allowing the children of TBA to grow and then succeed as leaders in this changing world. The planning principles address the needs of the whole child and the their community, creating a place where multiple generations of TBA members can claim as their own.

In preparation for the gala, the Berliner team worked with a rendering specialist to highlight the significance of the Boulevard, an avenue running between the Temple and the school which was previously an alleyway. This central space is cradled by the new school, drawing members in from La Cienega, bowing out to create a pedestrian zone, and then angling back towards the existing Ganzberg building. Just as middle school is a bridge between childhood and adulthood, the planning of the school itself mimics that connection by bridging the K-5 classes and the Temple, where their spirituality can continue to grow.

During the ceremony the first set of pavers to be installed in the boulevard were auctioned off, with anticipation of future sets to be engraved over time, showing a history of the Temple’s growth. These aggregate pavers use recycled shells, harking back to the area of La Cienega where Temple Beth Am sits, previously a marshland. These references to the indigenous Landscape of Los Angeles and Isreal are carried throughout the Campus Revitalization and Pressman Academy design. Check out the project page for further information! 

LAUSD Dorsey

Berliner Architects has been working with LAUSD Dorsey High School who received a California Department of Education Industry Grant enabling the expansion and capabilities of the existing Media, Arts, and Theatre Pathway. Industrial Arts Building #1 on the campus will have a new broadcast room, collaboration space, and instructional learning classroom. The new facility will provide state of the art learning spaces that will put students on a pathway to quintessential California media and entertainment careers and opportunities. The space will also host the CalArts Community Arts Partnership, a high performing program for college and career readiness that uses a project based learning model to help students develop technical proficiency, visual literacy, critical thinking and analysis of the arts through storytelling, screen writing and production courses.

HOLA Shipping Containers are Delivered

The first of 40+ shipping containers arrives at the new Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) facility. The modular containers create the framework for the Lafayette Park facility which will house the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles and have a large ensemble room, two small ensemble rooms, 18 classrooms, four smart start club rooms, and five offices, as well as the capability to open to the park for public performances. The shipping containers were all assembled within two weeks of the first container being delivered. 

Click here to learn more about the project. 

Check out a time-lapse below!

Happy Teachers' Day!

Magnolia Santa Ana Gym Construction Update

The new gym at Magnolia Santa Ana is wrapping up construction! Check out these photos to see the latest progress. 

Click here to learn more about the project.

2018 California Charter Schools Association Conference

We love the opportunity presented by the California Charter Schools Association Conference to share our work and connect with educators and innovators in the field. We invite all CCSA attendees to join us at our Booth #1634.

Before the conference begins, we will be present at the Developer's Summit on the topic Questions to Ask to Get the School You Want: Interacting with Your Development Team. Richard Berliner, Ashley Johnson, and Kai Telless will present to those new to the development process. Too often when an organization approaches a designer for their new school, they are missing key information that the designer needs to make their dream school a reality.

Attendees will build a vocabulary of common development terms and use our template as a guide for creating a design brief that lays out the priorities and spacial needs of their school. With this brief seminar we hope to empower the school team to communicate confidently to architects and other players in the development sphere.

International Women's Day

We may be a day late but we have a lot to be proud of - according to data from the A.I.A., women make up approximately 25% of the architecture industry. Here at Berliner Architects, we can proudly say we have assembled a great team that is 50% women!