There’s a new plaza on the campus of Menlo-Atherton High School, the area enclosed by the two arms of the new G Wing building. The two-story, 27,000 square-foot building is shaped like a C (when seen from above) and includes 21 classrooms intended for English, math and social studies classes.
Also located in the building are an academic resources center for special education and a food preparation facility. Outside is a shaded dining area adjacent to the plaza.
The project came in just under its budget of $27 million, M-A Principal Simone Rick-Kennel told the Almanac.
While crews are still addressing the list of tasks remaining before the building is declared finished, six of the classrooms are already in use, she said.
Most classroom furniture is on wheels, including desks, chairs and charging cabinets for 34 Chromebook laptop computers. The school uses Google applications for documents, forms, spreadsheets and slides, as well as the Google Classroom learning platform, Ms. Rick-Kennel said.
Mobile furniture allows easy rearrangement for whatever the needs are, including working in groups, pairs and individually, Ms. Rick-Kennel said.
Equipment storage carts, also on wheels, have facings that double as whiteboards, as do the opaque surfaces on the inside of bay windows facing the hallways. There are also blinds should an emergency — such as a threatening person on campus — require sheltering in classrooms, she said.
At least four classrooms open into shared smaller and quieter rooms fitted with informal soft furniture and a white board for collaborative or small-group activities. And at least two classrooms share a wall that folds up to create one large room.
Multi-story classroom buildings are unprecedented at M-A, but the campus is built out and the district is increasing capacity at all four major high schools. M-A has an enrollment of 2,365 for the current year, reflecting growth of 50 to 75 students per year for the past three years — growth of about 3 percent per year and not on track to meet the 2013-14 projections of a 25 percent increase by the 2020-21 school year, Ms. Rick-Kennel said.
Superintendent James Lianides attributed slower enrollment growth in the district to gentrification and the high cost of living on the Peninsula.
Trending green
Asked about the building’s sustainability profile, Matthew Zito, the chief facilities officer of the Sequoia Union High School District, described it as “highly efficient” and built to the state’s latest mandatory Title 24 energy efficiency standards.
G Wing architect Katia McClain of the San Jose firm of LPA Inc., said that the classrooms have windows that open, a roof that is highly reflective of sunlight, and lights that are high-efficiency LEDs controlled by sensors that turn off lights when the classroom is not occupied. Of buildings of the same type, the G Wing beats the minimum energy reductions called for in Title 24 by nearly 36 percent, she said.
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