The first new school built for Fremont Unified School District in nearly 30 years, Lila Bringhurst Elementary School brings 98,500 square feet of new classroom and ancillary spaces to a five-acre site that is integrated within a high-density urban development. One feature structure is a two-story classroom facility consisting of two buildings connected by a bridge that offers views of the campus and includes a media center and flex lab. The campus also includes a single-story administration building, a separate kindergarten classroom, and a multi-purpose building.
The site is challenged by liquefiable soil, which required the use of mat slab foundations under each new structure. Integrating wastewater solutions with the site necessitated the extensive use of bio-swales, which surrounded the buildings around the site and required careful detailing with the adjacent edges of mat slabs. At some buildings, exterior grade sloped steeply away, requiring additional coordination within the design team to ensure stability of the structures and sloping grades.
One of the classroom buildings features a large storefront with perforated metal panel soffits supported by steel Vierendeel trusses, blending industrial design elements with modern educational spaces.