Construction Completed on El Capitan High School’s Events Center

Construction has been completed on the new $10.7 million, 15,000-square-foot event center for Grossmont Union High School District’s El Capitan High School in Lakeside, California. C.W. Driver Companies constructed the facility and HED served as the architect.  

Consisting of two buildings on the campus’ south side, the new event center houses band, drama, and dance spaces and features 250 retractable seats to accommodate theater productions, performances, and events. It also includes a lobby, concession and snack bar, storage space, AV room, and green room.

“It was a pleasure to partner with El Capitan High School to create a multifunctional events center that serves as a new focal point for the campus,” said Hank Withaar, vice president at C.W. Driver Companies. “We leveraged our extensive K-12 experience to build a facility that will serve students well and benefit the school’s performing arts programs for years to come.”

The new center’s design references the school’s outdoor surroundings including the lines and angles of the region’s mountains and horizons, and incorporated the region’s iconic sycamore trees into the landscaping.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Nashville Elementary School Receives LEED Gold Certification

    Goodlettsville Elementary School, part of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., recently achieved LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), according to a news release. The 81,750-square-foot school opened in 2023 and was designed by Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC).

  • Building Beyond Simulation: Creating Immersive Ecosystems for Healthcare Education

    Health sciences education is one of the fastest-growing facility types in colleges and universities. The demand for medical, nursing, and allied health professionals is driving the creation and renovation of medical simulation training facilities that provide students with real-world experience through advanced simulation-based learning.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • University of Pennsylvania Releases Design of Future Physical Sciences Building

    The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia, Penn., recently released renderings of an upcoming 350,000-square-foot Physical Sciences Building, according to news release. The facility was designed by CO Architects and will unite the university’s departments of Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics, and Earth and Environmental Science.