The High School Of Tomorrow Is Here: A New Beacon Of Hope Shines Downtown
Los Angeles Visual and Performing Arts High School by Coop Himmelblau
Sitting atop the highest peak in downtown Los Angeles on Bunker Hill is an arts high school so Avant-garde and futuristic that the students who attend starting in September 2009 will literally be transformed day after day just by showing up for school. But perhaps the most forward-thinking part--and central point of contention--of this school’s model is not the groovy, space-age architectural design by Coop Himmelblau (although it certainly warrants merit), but the move by Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to invest a whopping $232 million on cultivating the high-class high school--$200 million more than the average cost of a school. So what justifies the extra $200 million?
Central Los Angeles High School for the Visual and Performing Arts is a prototype for the school of tomorrow, throwing out the old model that’s more reminiscent of a prison than a friendly learning hub and replacing it with an entire doors-open community movement, a staple of the downtown neighborhood that everyone can participate in and be proud of. LAUSD has spent this astronomical sum as an investment into the LA community and by doing so sets a new standard for what high schools of the future can become. Best of all, everyone is invited to the show.
The school is the extraordinary love-child of LAUSD’s unprecedented funding--and part of their “rigorous state bond-funded plan to have 155 new schools built in its district by 2012”, Eli Broad and the Broad Foundation, a non-profit arts organization Discovering the Arts, as well as a small handful of advisory boards and consultants coming together to realize a large-scale brainstorm in
an even larger-scale plan for downtown’s transformation. With an already-impressive corridor of culture--the Gehry-designed Disney Concert Hall, the Mark Taper Forum, MOCA, the Colburn School of Music, the Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels, and the planned Gehry-designed Grand development of high-end residences, a civic park, and a luxury hotel--the newly minted high school will complement these Arts’ facilities by featuring the largest public performing arts theater in Downtown, capable of seating 950 people and containing a fly-loft, an orchestra pit, a black box theater, and an outside amphitheater. To encourage community participation, High School #9 is considering renting out many of their spaces for public use, including the fashion-forward theater lobby and, if LAUSD agrees, the large tower-head event space that sits atop the “figurine” one can see lit up at night from the 101 Highway.
Image by Lane Barden
About the use of figurines throughout the school’s architectural concept, Coop Himmelblau’s architect Karolin Schmidbaur says they are used as markers and help make a place memorable by “go[ing] into your mental map”. The 140-foot “chess-piece” structure that rises from the belly of the decked-out theater and symbolically connects the high school to the high rises of downtown is more than memorable; it’s a new beacon of hope for the downtown learning centers and all of Los Angeles’ education. Besides the entrance lobby and the tower figurine--which also has a spiraling walkway in the shape of a 9 for the number of the High School, Himmelblau’s other main piece d’ resistance is the conical-shaped library that sprouts from the middle of the mezzanine like a volcano erupting in knowledge. Other features of the school are a sharp cafeteria that could double for a catering space, as well as a large playing field for students’ physical exercise.
Architect Schmidbaur points out that Coop Himmelblau researched many concepts and sat in with various arts schools throughout the nation and Europe to get a feel for what they could bring to the table when designing High School #9. She noted the “prison-like” feel to many schools and sought to design this school to feel welcoming, safe and even nurturing. While LAUSD holds the reins to the school, they are seeking out charter-like exemptions. LAUSD’s Arts and Community Advisor LaMoin Gerrard says “We are seeking autonomies similar to charters regarding governance, budget, schedule, curriculum and assessment and staffing.”
LAUSD is more than aware that all eyes are watching them right now, some angry at the cost. But they defend the exorbitant price tag citing that they already owned the 10-acre site the school’s built on and Gerrard says, “We are taking on something no other arts high school has endeavored to do-- mixing students that are clearly talented and refined in their training, with those students from the local neighborhoods that have a high interest in the arts but not necessarily consistent access to the arts and private training.
”This model has not only never been done before, but it’s a Cinderella school: of the 1,700 lucky students who attend High School #9, 1,200 of them will be from local neighborhoods, which are mostly lower-income households, and 500 others will be from across the district. How many talented artists are waiting out there to be given this once-in-a-lifetime chance?
The school will feature four academies that students can specialize in; visual arts, drama, dance, and music, and all students will be required to pass general education classes for entry into college. The beauty of this one-of-a-kind school is that it’s open primarily to students who likely have not received the chance to go to an audition-based arts school. Says Local District 4 Superintendent Richard Alonzo, “Typically these students have been excluded from inclusion in arts schools requiring auditions and portfolios, due to social, economic, and linguistic conditions...This school acknowledges that there is an enormous untapped pool of talented young artists, musicians, actors and dancers that exists in the community surrounding the school. Our School brings hope and access to deserving students.
”Now the beautiful ship has been built and is ready to sail, despite many questioning the value of
such an expensive school at a time when budgets are being cut and faculty downsized. But one cannot underestimate the value of value: High School #9 is a world-class public arts high school that already is a great, shining hope for struggling LAUSD, as well as a prototype for the school of tomorrow. Now, Los Angeles presents to the world an arts high school so original and progressive that all will take notice. The future is here.
