San Pasqual Academy
The San Pasqual Academy [SPA] is a unique high school for foster teens. This project focused on housing for auxiliary members of SPA. The new housing proposed on-site is meant to support the following groups: alumni, grandparents, transitional students, and staff. For this project, our team focused on the master planning of the school and on the grandparent and transitional housing.
Team
Helen To
Eric Namisniak
Christian Hertzog
Site
The school is located in the San Pasqual Valley in southern California, between Escondido and Ramona in an agricultural area. A portion of the site is located within the San Dieguito watershed. In contrast, the site also has history with fire and was affected by the Witch Creek Fire in 2007.
Users
Alumni
Alumni are former SPA students who are coming back to campus to visit for short periods. This could also include college students who need a place to stay during holidays and breaks.
Grandparents
Grandparents are senior citizens who volunteer at SPA as mentors to the students. The seniors volunteer for ten hours a week in exchange for lower-cost housing.
Transitional
Transitional students are recent SPA graduates who are transitioning between high school and “real life”. These students need short-term housing while finding a job or before going off to college.
Staff
Two staff housing units are needed for staff to keep an eye on the campus in case of emergencies.
Planning
Master planning played a large role in the development of this project because of the different types of users the housing should accommodate. We had to consider the interaction between the various users and the students when we placed the housing. Along with the housing, we included other programmatic elements for the school, such as an amphitheater to the south, athletic fields to the north, an entrance plaza, various gathering spaces around campus, and a library.
Grandparents
These units are located along the north side of campus, nearby but separated from the main campus core to give grandparents a sense of privacy. Grandparents reside on the first floor with alumni units located above on the second floor. Each unit has views down the orange groves.
Transitional
These units are located along the east side of campus on a hill overlooking the campus, giving residents a sense of independence while still being connected to the campus. Transitional students live on the first floor; units on the second floor can be used as either alumni units or transitional units.
Presentation
The slides from our presentation.
