Santa Maria-Bonita Elementary Celebrates Construction Milestone

Santa Maria-Bonita School District celebrated a major construction milestone of its newest elementary school on Sept. 26. The California school district celebrated the project’s topping out by signing the final beam before it was lifted and installed at the top of the structure.

The two-story, $51 million school was designed by DLR Group and constructed by AMG & Associates. When completed in August 2020, it’s expected to accommodate up to 900 students in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade.

The 66,000 square-foot campus will feature 26 classrooms, a space for students enrolled in the district’s Therapeutic Learning Program, administrative offices, a multipurpose cafeteria/auditorium and play-fields.

"This is a unique design," Superintendent Luke Ontiveros told a local news station. "It really is built around 21st century skills, collaboration, communication, creativity. There's some learning areas outside of the traditional classrooms that we'll be able to maximize and take advantage. Besides the two-story design, it's really that programmatic piece that we'll be able to implement that really is going to make a difference in the futures of our children."

 The 66,000 square-foot campus will feature 26 classrooms, a space for students enrolled in the district’s Therapeutic Learning Program, administrative offices, a multipurpose cafeteria/auditorium and play-fields.

About the Author

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

Featured

  • Philadelphia Middle School Facility Earns LEED Gold Certification

    The Alternative Middle Years (AMY) at James Martin Middle School in Philadelphia, Penn., recently received a LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, according to a news release. The School District of Pennsylvania partnered with KSS Architects on the project.

  • 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.

  • Johns Hopkins Starts Construction on New Residence Hall, Dining Facility

    The Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., recently began construction on a new residence hall and dining facility, according to university news. The work involves demolishing the existing Alumni Memorial Residence Hall I, which was built in 1923, to make room for the new facility.

  • 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.