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Planning & Design Meetings Meeting #6 1/28/2009 - MinutesPALO ALTO HS MP MEETING No. 6 Palo Alto Unified School District 28 January 2009 P.1 PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL MASTER PLAN Palo Alto Unified School District MASTER PLAN MEETING NO.6 DATE: 28 January 2009, 3:15–5:00 pm SUBJECT: Master Plan Meeting with Palo Alto HS Facilities Steering Committee ATTENDEES: See attached sign-in sheet The following are the highlights of the meeting: 1. As an introduction, architect Erwin Lee reviewed the master plan site diagrams that were presented at the last meeting. He discussed the original goal of having single- loaded classroom buildings to allow for cross-ventilation and day-lighting; but determined from the steering committee’s comments that the program and how the teachers interact in the building was more important and must be preserved. The building plan must provide for this relationship, which means the single-loaded classroom building configuration must change. 2. Lee presented a revised site diagram that included an alternate, single-loaded 28- classroom configuration adjacent to the central plant. He warned that the large footprint of a proposed 2-story classroom building may have a negative impact on the small area, and outlined the two main constraints of this proposed location: 1. The new footprint encroaches into the corporation yard 2. The adjacent, central plant can’t be moved to allow expansion to the south 3. Another site plan diagram was shown. Lee proposed moving the larger classroom building to the north side where the Media Arts building is currently proposed. The Media Arts building, with its smaller footprint, would be placed where the classroom building was. Other highlights from the discussion of this site plan were: • The difference in the size of the classroom building, whether it will be 12 classrooms or 14 classrooms, depends on the program requirements. If all classrooms don’t need to open up to a central space, the footprint of the new building will be reduced. Currently, neither the Math classrooms nor the Social Sciences classrooms have all classrooms open directly into a central space. • Swapping locations with the Career Tech building is an option because there is flexibility to reduce the corpyard, but that would take more of the core classrooms away from the center of campus • Lee explained that at the master planning level, we want to make sure that the footprint works before pushing into further design elements, such as classroom orientation within the building 4. A revised classroom distribution diagram was presented that included the following goals: • Remove all classroom functions out of the library and add conference space PALO ALTO HS MP MEETING No. 6 Palo Alto Unified School District 28 January 2009 P.2 • Move World Languages classrooms adjacent to the proposed new Media Arts building • 150-seat lecture hall adjacent to the current English classroom building, in place of the existing portable classroom buildings • Move Special Education classrooms to the location of existing World Languages. Principal Jacqueline McEvoy stated that it is a good idea to have the Special Education classrooms in this building because it is central to campus and there is already one custom space that has been designed for Special Education • Glass-blowing to stay where it is, as well as the adjacent Visual Arts support space 5. A new site plan was shown that compared two theater options (A and B). Option A proposes to replace the Art Building by building a new Theater/Arts Complex that would incorporate both programs. Option B is similar to the original proposal and preserves and adds to the existing Art Building. Option B was preferred because it incorporates the footprint of the existing building, but has a greater impact on the existing parking. The main benefits of this layout were: • The Art program could be stacked in a two-story configuration alongside the Performing Arts functions, which require high spaces. • A bridge could connect the media arts program to the second floor of the art wing. • Depending upon the art program, additional area could be gained by building a second floor classroom bridge in lieu of a pedestrian bridge. • The black box theater would be on the lower level 6. The needs of the Performing Arts Department and the uses of the existing Haymarket Theater were also discussed. Highlights from this topic were: • If the classroom functions of the 100 building are gone, where do they move to? • Primary concern is that there is a black box/flex space for instruction • Not all parking spaces on campus are used; reducing the amount of spaces to provide for a building pad would not adversely affect the school. • New studio space for 2D arts needs to be the same size or larger • 500-600 seat theater is the target for the new theater • Haymarket is insufficient and the number of proposed seats is very important • The stage of the Haymarket could be a flex space (multi-use classroom space) • In 2000 and 2006 there were studies done of what to do with the Haymarket – one of which was to chop off the courtyard end. Lee warned that to get the structural integrity of a building back after doing that is a big challenge and proposed making a “building within a building” as opposed to expanding it. • Tower building and the Haymarket building are the only buildings that are not on the central plant. The HVAC system in the Haymarket needs to be improved • Possibility to convert the Haymarket into the 150-seat lecture hall • Consider removing the sloped floor and fixed seating and converting the Haymarket to the “black box” theater 7. It was stated that all of the layouts that have been presented to date will work for the Performing Arts Department and that they are willing to work their program into what is currently proposed. Lee suggested that a new theater could be designed with the ability to add accessory spaces later when additional funding is available. A sub-committee will be formed that will visit local high school theaters to determine the needs for the new theater. PALO ALTO HS MP MEETING No. 6 Palo Alto Unified School District 28 January 2009 P.3 8. A bicycle circulation diagram was shown indicating possible bike routes and location of bike cages. Mr. Lee stated the main goals for the control of bike flow about campus, which are the following: • Get the bikes out of the quad and out of the path of vehicular traffic • Locate bike cages in an area that can be supervised • Establish a bike path that is controlled and that would encourage its use • Reduce the vehicular circulation at the south end of campus to protect the bikes from vehicles • A survey needs to be done and the students should be asked for input on bike paths and flow patterns before further discussion of traffic • 50% of bikes enter from Churchill Street • 35% of bikes enter from Embarcadero • 15% of bikes enter from Caltrain bike path 9. In summary, there are 3 items that seem to be agreed upon: • There is flexibility in size of the two-story classroom building and that adjustments can be made as necessary so that it can remain where proposed • The proposed media arts building should remain in proposed location • Theater option B is the preferred option and should be carried forwarded as the footprint for master planning purposes 10. The public comments from the meeting were as follows: • The Theater Boosters are prepared to work for additional fundraising for “bells and whistles” of the theater as long as the size of the theater is adequate for their needs. • A landscape architect should be consulted to recommend ways to enhance the front of the campus • Three theater options were proposed: 1. Place theater in the location of proposed Media Arts Building 2. Place theater in location of Career Tech building 3. Place theater in the north part of the quad • An outdoor amphitheater is a good idea • Preserve parking area landscape at north parking lot • Use Haymarket for the black box teaching space and modernize it • The proposed new quad appears to be very long; consider the repercussions of elongating the quad • Theater option in plan B is great – the Theater Boosters are here to help • Haymarket is insufficient – we need to improve the situation immediately and add a new, beautiful theater • The theater plan and performing arts complex is too grand and not what the bond program and community intended – Paly HS only needs an auditorium. The dollars should be invested in the Career Tech program rather than the performing arts program. 11. Next Meeting is scheduled for 11 February 2009 at 3:15 pm. PALO ALTO HS MP MEETING No. 6 Palo Alto Unified School District 28 January 2009 P.4 END Prepared by Dean Schmitz of Deems Lewis McKinley. Please advise if you feel that any of the above items are inaccurate or need further clarification or detail. cc: Attendees File