Irvine’s New Cadence Park School is District’s Fourth K-8 Campus

The new $44-million Cadence Park School, in Irvine, is the Irvine Unified School District’s (IUSD) 40th school and fourth K-8 campus. The art deco-inspired school was built to accommodate the growth of Orange County’s Great Park neighborhoods and has the capacity to serve up to 1,000 students. The 94,000-square-foot campus encompasses eight buildings on 13 acres and includes a gymnasium with an attached fitness lab as well as outdoor collaboration spaces for all grade levels. Classrooms for grades one through five will have direct access to interior collaboration spaces, and grades six through eight will have access to a quad with an outdoor amphitheater, small group instruction areas, space for outdoor science activities and a garden.

Cadence Park School

The school features an innovation lab with a maker’s space, video production room and flexible learning space with a roll-up door to accommodate a variety of lesson types. A library with a story-telling space will double as a small group work area. C.W. Driver Companies, a premier builder serving California since 1919, worked alongside PJHM Architects on the project.

“We have a long history partnering with IUSD on the construction of its elementary, middle and high school campuses, and are honored to once again work with a school district that is consistently ranked no. 1 in Orange County,” said Jonathan Keene, senior project manager at C.W. Driver Companies. “This new campus will provide a state-of-the-art facility for the Great Park Neighborhoods’ growing population and add to IUSD’s impressive roster of forward-thinking learning environments.”

Featured

  • Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland, OR

    Preserving Legacy, Designing for the Future

    As historic academic buildings age, institutions face a difficult decision: preserve and adapt or demolish and rebuild. How do we honor the legacy of these spaces while adapting them to meet the needs of modern learners?

  • Stanford Completes Construction on Graduate School of Education Facility

    Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., recently announced the end of construction on a new home for its Graduate School of Education, according to a news release. The university partnered with McCarthy Building Companies on the 160,000-square-foot project, which involved two major renovations and one new construction effort.

  • 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.

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.