LPA was recognized with two awards of excellence in the new construction category from the recent Association for Learning Environments’ (A4LE) Southern California chapter’s awards ceremony. The association honored the design of Eastvale STEM Academy (eSTEM) in Eastvale, California, a three-story collection of connected co-labs and indoor-outdoor learning environments, and the Palomar College Learning Resource Center in San Marcos, California, a reimagination of the role of the library on a college campus.
A4LE Southern California Honors LPA K-12, Higher Education Projects
A4LE is a professional 501(c)(3) nonprofit association with the sole mission of improving the places where students learn. Its annual Awards of Excellence program highlights innovative educational facilities that enhance the educational experience.
“These projects honored by A4LE are the result of extensive collaboration with students, faculty and staff,” LPA CEO Wendy Rogers said. “We are honored that A4LE recognized projects in K-12 and higher education that enrich the educational experience.”
The eSTEM campus supports multiple teaching modalities, with a design focused on collaboration, access, partnership and flexibility. Designed around an open courtyard, it features a multi-layered series of learning environments that promote creative thinking and engage students in project-based learning by simulating real-world environments.
“The educational spaces are dynamic and flexible, forward-looking and well scaled,” jurors noted. “The buildings are colorful and strong, with a confident hand at detailing. A very strong project, successful on many levels.”
The Palomar College Learning Resource Center challenges the traditional role of a library, creating open environments that feature flexible furnishings and collaboration spaces, ample natural light with views of the surrounding campus, and connections to nature and views. LPA designed the four-story learning center at the heart of the campus, expanding beyond its core function as a resource center to serve as an academic support destination, community center, social venue and instructional facility for lifelong learners.
“Strong indoor-outdoor connections to adjacent spaces, a soaring interior atrium and a variety of studying/learning modalities find home in this memorable anchor facility for this Southern California College,” jurors wrote. The project “uses a dynamic arrangement of vertically layered spaces to create a strong architectural statement in a stunning location while providing an inviting mix of learning and study spaces.”
