Architectural Record features our master plan and Phase 1 completion for Oakland, California’s historic Head-Royce School, exploring how the firm transformed an overgrown eight-parcel addition into a connected, sustainable, and verdant learning environment for the K-12 co-educational preparatory school.
The article details how, together with TLS Landscape Architecture, we revitalized the newly acquired South Campus—doubling the school’s footprint across a steep, 55-foot grade change. The design team retrofitted three century-old Spanish Colonial Revival buildings, preserving their mission-style facades while converting interior spaces into light-filled, flexible classrooms, STEM and digital fabrication labs, administrative offices, and community gathering spaces.
There were some good bones in the existing structures, and we saw value in adding them to the school’s identity. Our goal was to preserve everything that we could that supported the buildings’ historic character.
Complementing the historic architecture, TLS Landscape Architecture turned the challenging hillside into a living classroom, replacing non-native trees with native oaks, incorporating repurposed timber seating, and creating outdoor teaching “campsites.” A central hillside amphitheater now serves as a vibrant outdoor gathering space for performances and school events.
