Description:

The Rodeo Road Charter School project is an adaptive reuse of a 72,872 two story building. The site was being used as a military recruitment facility, with an expiring lease that rendered the site vacant January 2010.  The project will be a complete reuse and conversion of the existing building, featuring complete interior demolition and reconfiguration of the space into 50 classrooms, science labs, a college center, a multi-purpose room, dance and music facilities, offices and a large roof top area.    The proposed school facility is advantageous in its location, planning and design innovations.  The school site was chosen primarily because of its adjacency to existing and future community assets.  The school is next to Rancho Cienega Park and existing and future public transportation options.   The school facility plan is innovative:

Park facilities which include playfields, indoor and outdoor athletic facilities and a running track will be utilized by the school for physical education and recreation, through a partnership with the Department of Recreation and Parks.  

It is proposed that, (1) a parking lot at the park be used for student drop-off and pick up in order to reduce the traffic impacts on adjacent streets, (2) an improved pedestrian path be developed through the park that will lead students to and from the park and from the Expo Light Rail Station through the park and to the school and (3) that an existing gate separating the park and the charter school facility be relocated and improved.

The site is located next to public transportation with existing MTA bus routes and the future Expo Light Rail station being one city block to the north at Exposition Blvd. and La Brea Ave.  Students will reduce area traffic by utilizing both bus routes and the Expo Light Rail to get to and from school.  The school will have a policy that encourages and incentivizes public transportation ridership.

The existing building will be re-used, saving demolition material from going into a landfill and reducing the need for new material.  The design will reuse as much of the existing building systems as possible.  Examples include repurposing and retrofitting the existing mechanical system, sealing the existing concrete flooring and leaving the existing concrete ceiling exposed.  The design features new interior walls throughout that minimize sound transference, with new high efficiency systems including lighting, windows and skylights and low flow plumbing fixtures that will reduce the impact to the environment as well as lower operational costs.

Map of location