Westside Neighborhood School

Westside Neighborhood School is a private K-8 institution serving the community of Playa Vista. We transformed an existing red brick warehouse into a beautiful new facility which helped fulfill the school’s vision of a cohesive campus.
The new building, named Coral Tree Place, offers a variety of spaces, including WNS’s new Early Education Center. The design by Rios Clementi Hale Studios features a large wood-floor gymnasium, atriums with translucent cloud artwork, and large open classrooms for interactive education. The classrooms are versatile and can be adapted for art and science lessons using movable partitions.
We built a large canopy for shading along the preschool playground to create the perfect indoor/outdoor learning experience. All spaces are augmented with skylights, sliding glass doors, and windows to allow for natural lighting and airflow. A few challenges that arose during construction include building during the rainy season, a major structural retrofit, and school licensing requirements. However, through teamwork and effective communication, we were able to accomplish the goal of opening for the start of the new school year.