Petaluma’s Loma Vista Immersion Academy new classroom buildings named Best North Bay Education Project

Category: Best Education Project

Project owner and financing: Old Adobe Union School District

General contractor: Alten Construction

Architect: TLCD Architecture

Manufactured buildings: JL Modular

Civil engineering: Brelje & Race

Landscape: Quadriga Landscape Architecture & Planning

Electrical: O’Mahony & Myer

Completion: Sept. 5, 2021

Cost: Less than $10 million

See more winning projects in North Bay Business Journal’s annual Top Projects Awards.

Loma Vista Immersion Academy, a charter school located at 207 Maria Drive in Petaluma, is one of the few schools in Sonoma County where the enrollment is growing.

It offers a dual immersion program, emphasizing a bilingual, biliterate community with positive cross-culture attitudes and skills resulting in an enriching experience for all learners.

TLCD Architecture was selected by the Old Adobe Union School District to develop a plan for replacing four aging classrooms with eight new classrooms encompassing 8,500 square feet to accommodate increased enrollment.

At Loma Vista, students begin school in transitional kindergarten (TK) classes, where they are taught using only Spanish. In kindergarten and first grade, students are taught 90% in Spanish and 10% in English. As they move through the grades, they are gradually taught more in English until, by the time they are in the fourth grade, they are taught half in English and half in Spanish.

The project added two buildings, with four classrooms each, including two larger TK classrooms with toilets and a shared work space that optimize the interior environment and functionality, while also providing multiple opportunities for outdoor learning.

During “visioning” meetings between the staff and the design team, several priorities emerged including lots of daylight (without too many distracting views), ample wall space and storage, room flexibility to support a variety of teaching and learning layouts, integrated technology to accommodate one-to-one devices, smart TVs, and an advanced classroom AV system.

An outdoor learning area with a shade structure and markerboard was added, and a clerestory classroom design was included to optimize day lighting and high-efficiency LED lighting with predicted energy-use intensity 61% below baseline.

Modular construction was selected for the new buildings to speed the construction process and minimize disruption to the active campus.

In summer 2020, Alten Construction was selected as the general contractor utilizing the lease-leaseback project delivery method, with JL Modular providing the new buildings.

The project was completed in time for school in fall 2021 — putting the school ahead of schedule to accommodate the State of California’s plan to make all 4-year-olds eligible for TK by 2025–2026.

Category: Best Education Project

Project owner and financing: Old Adobe Union School District

General contractor: Alten Construction

Architect: TLCD Architecture

Manufactured buildings: JL Modular

Civil engineering: Brelje & Race

Landscape: Quadriga Landscape Architecture & Planning

Electrical: O’Mahony & Myer

Completion: Sept. 5, 2021

Cost: Less than $10 million

See more winning projects in North Bay Business Journal’s annual Top Projects Awards.

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