Fall Arch Tour Fest: Equitas Academy 5 & 6

Photo Credit: Tom Bonner

Fall Arch Tour Fest: Equitas Academy 5 & 6 @ 9am

Additional information regarding the tour and check-in process will be emailed directly to registrants 24 hours before the event.

Tour Organizer: Richard Berliner, AIA

Equitas Academy 5 & 6 is an adaptive reuse of a former armored car facility converted into two charter elementary schools and district administrative office spaces. Equitas Academy is in the Pico Union neighborhood directly adjacent to downtown Los Angeles.

Formerly an upper- and middle-class residential neighborhood, the population now is primarily Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants seeking refuge from civil war in their countries. Equitas Academy not only provides an excellent education for students from the Pico Union Neighborhood, but also a broad range of services including breakfast, lunch and dinner, family counseling, social services and micro loans to their families.

Spaces are designed in the school to support this broad range of services, easily accessible at the entry, while providing safety to the students inside. This project transformed a formerly derelict building into a resource and gathering place that supports the community. Using color, graphics, and architectural elements, the building messages to the community that the school provides quality education and social services to all.

Building Credits:

Architect: Berliner Architects
Contractors: EPI Construction
Structural Engineers: Brandow and Johnston
MEP Engineers: AMA Group
Landscape Architect: Office of the Designed Landscape

Learning Objectives:

How to introduce natural light and fresh air into windowless classrooms.
How an adaptive reuse dramatically reduces embodied carbon.
How address complex code issues related to change of use.
How to introduce outdoor spaces to a land locked school facility.