New School Promotes Experiential Learning

San Diego, Ca. — The Launch Pointe at Monarch School, serving kindergarten through 12th grade, will engage students in hands-on, project-based learning. The Launch Pointe is a space where students can engage with employers, have industry partners lecture or teach a course and build an identity as a community space.

San Diego Launch Pointe SchoolPreparing students for life after Monarch includes innovative exploration, critical thinking, problem solving, hands-on learning experiences and team collaboration. The space will support these concepts with three academies: information technology, building and construction and social services. 

To encourage student ownership and pride, design features that support student personalization such as choice of lighting, a variety in levels that create zoning and interactive technologies have been incorporated into the design. Flexible furniture will support an agile and reconfigurable learning space. As students gain confidence and understand their own individual learning preferences, they will have opportunities to work in teaming and collaboration spaces to support student-centered education.

Architecture, structural engineering, MEP engineering and interior design for the project is being handled by LPA Architects. As one of the largest integrated design firms in California and Texas, LPA provides architecture, planning, landscape architecture, interior design, engineering, and graphic/signage services from early program development to project closeout.

Featured

  • Round Rock ISD Completes New Early College High School

    Round Rock ISD near Austin, Texas, recently announced that construction is complete on a new, 46,500-square-foot campus for Early College High School, according to a news release. The new facility will allow the school’s students and staff to move from portables into a permanent building and increase its enrollment to 500.

  • University of Arizona Approves New Residence Hall

    The Arizona Board of Regents recently approved plans for a new residence hall at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., according to a news release. The new facility is scheduled to open in fall 2028 and have the capacity for more than 1,200 students, enforcing a new university expectation that all first-year students live on campus.

  • Houston-Area High School Breaks Ground on 117,000SF Multi-Use Facility

    North Shore Senior High School, part of Galena Park ISD in Houston, Texas, recently broke ground on a new multi-use facility for student extracurriculars, according to a news release. The North Shore Multi-Use Facility will include dedicated practice and training space for the school’s athletics and fine arts programs.

  • How a Portable Sink Helped an Art Classroom Run More Smoothly

    Classroom design decisions can have outsized effects on instructional time and safety at schools juggling mismatched infrastructure, strict budgets, and crowded schedules — particularly in the arts. Between spilled paint and dirty brushes, art classes run smoother with a sink in the studio. But many schools don’t have a sink in every art classroom.