C.W. Driver Completes $52.5M K–8 School in California

Builder C.W. Driver Companies recently announced that it has completed construction on a $52.5-million K–8 campus in Irvine, Calif. The new Solis Park School campus measures in at 108,000 square feet and is currently welcoming students in grades K–5, according to a news release.

The seven-building campus features amenities like a child-care facility and commissary, as well as educational environments and features “designed to foster discovery, curiosity, collaboration, and innovation,” the news release reports. Other amenities include an innovation lab for engineering, video production, and robotics; a design lab; dedicated science and music classrooms; dedicated space for special education; and multiple outdoor learning spaces. Physical education classes will take place in a fitness center and an indoor gym.

“We have a strong passion for building schools at C.W. Driver knowing that our work will provide children a safe and modern place to learn for many years to come,” said C.W. Driver Companies project executive Tom Jones. “The Irvine USD schools are absolutely beautiful; it’s with great pride we were included in their program.”

The news release also reports that the school was designed to meet CHPS (Collaborative for High-Performance Schools) criteria. CHPS’ goal is to increase student well-being and performance via facilities that are energy-efficient, healthy, and that subscribe to modern learning pedagogies.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • GeoCam and UCLA: Modernizing Campus Accessibility Mapping

    In early 2025, UCLA partnered with GeoCam to capture and modernize its pedestrian infrastructure data. The goal was ambitious but clear: to produce a high-accuracy, imagery-backed digital map of every sidewalk, pathway, ramp, and ADA-related feature on UCLA’s 419-acre campus.

  • Barbara Vick Western Branch

    Barbara Vick Western Branch

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The Barbara Vick Western Branch has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of Renovation.

  • Opportunity by Design Framework

    Opportunity by Design

    Educational improvement efforts often focus on curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, and intervention systems while treating the physical school building as background. But school design is not a passive backdrop to learning — it is a structural lever for equity.

  • CU-Lock Haven Receives $1.75M Gift for New Entrepreneurship, Media Center

    Commonwealth University-Lock Haven in Lock Haven, Penn., recently received a $1.75-million donation from entrepreneur and alumnus Nicholas Subich ’17, according to a university news release. The funds will go toward establishing the Nicholas Subich Center for Entrepreneurship and Media, a technology-driven hub for innovation and experiential learning.