Richard Alonzo, Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles
Armando L. Gonzalez, FAIA, Gonzalez|Goodale Architects, Pasadena, Calif.
David L. Goodale, AIA, Gonzalez|Goodale Architects, Pasadena, Calif.

      The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Learning Center is an integrated, familial campus of small academy-style schools with academic and physical interconnectivity for grades K-12. Discuss the design opportunities and challenges that transformed the Ambassador Hotel site into an exemplary school-the emerging pedagogy of small learning communities, the inclusion of community in campus uses, and the resonance of an iconic historic place within a learning environment.

Learning objectives:

• Identify and contrast the characteristics that distinguish a three-school single campus and small learning communities from more traditional models
• Compare the myriad stakeholder interests reflected in the state-mandated Environmental Impact Report with the design solutions implemented
• Analyze LAUSD's sustainable design initiatives and their effect on energy and cost savings.