LPA Landscape Architects Win ASLA SoCal Design Award
Quality of Life Design Award recognizes Sunkist Elementary School for excellence, innovation and creativity in landscape design.
LPA landscape architects were recently recognized for “excellence, innovation and creativity” in landscape design in the Southern California chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ (ASLA SoCal) 2023 Quality of Life Design Awards.
The landscape design for the renovation for Sunkist Elementary School—a public K-6 campus in Anaheim, California—earned a Merit Award. This marks the ninth year in a row LPA’s landscape team has been recognized in the regional award program.
The new campus quad serves as a central gathering space for student assemblies and outdoor performances supporting the visual and performing arts curriculum.
LPA landscape designers reimagined the campus as a vibrant, inviting and organized learning environment that fosters educational creativity and increases usable outdoor space by 40%. A new courtyard supports the school’s visual and performing arts curriculum, blending indoor and outdoor spaces for collaboration, gathering, and performance. An amphitheater, lunch shelter and outdoor stage support the performing arts, and walkways and exterior stair landings double as art gallery spaces.
The landscape integrates meaningfully with the architecture to become an extension of the learning environment, strengthening the visual and performing arts curriculum and supporting healthy, creative, connected students.
— Kari Kikuta, LPA Director of Landscape Architecture
The renovated space between existing classroom buildings now provides opportunities to bring learning outdoors.
“This project is a testament to the power of integrated design,” said LPA Director of Landscape Architecture Kari Kikuta. “The landscape integrates meaningfully with the architecture to become an extension of the learning environment, strengthening the visual and performing arts curriculum and supporting healthy, creative, connected students.”
Student health and well-being are at the forefront of the design, which reduces hardscape by 58% to minimize heat island effect. Designers prioritized equity in the design, ensuring that new and old portions of the campus provide students with the same level of quality and experience. Wellness goals are integrated into 100% of the education spaces, and active design principles throughout the campus encourage movement and activity.
The physical and historical influences of the site provided an order and logic for the new site design and development. The landscape was inspired by the agricultural history of the area, which includes native citrus trees and concrete patterning reminiscent of crop rows. The school’s relationship to an adjacent park played a role in the project’s organization, with clear, open connections supporting the community joint-use program. The existing mature landscape blurs the transition between park and campus while providing welcoming shade in play spaces.
