This new high school is the first to be built on a tech company’s campus
By David Malone, Associate Editor
Oracle Corporation’s Redwood Shores Headquarters is in the process of receiving a new addition the likes of which a tech company campus has never seen before; a high school.
Design Tech High School (d.tech) will be the first high school in the country located on a tech company’s campus. The 64,000-sf, two-story building has a fabrication lab designed as the heart of the new facility. The two-story lab, called the Design Realization Garage, will house heavy fabrication on the first floor and digital prototyping on the second floor. An internal elevator will move projects between the two spaces.
Modular learning neighborhoods are located on the east and west wings of the building and feature four interconnected classrooms that utilize movable partitions and furniture. Collaboration spaces are incorporated along the main circulation corridors of the building. These corridors, dubbed the California Corridors, provide unobstructed views of San Francisco Bay and the surrounding shoreline. Three enclosed outdoor spaces on the ground level and two rooftop decks provide outdoor settings for education.
Rendering courtesy of DES Architects + Engineers.
Oracle is providing the land and building the facility, but the school will be a fully autonomous public high school. The Oracle Conference Center and the main pedestrian promenade on campus connect directly to d.tech’s entrance. The Conference Center will provide a venue for the school’s large gatherings and performances. The existing Oracle kitchen will provide food for the students and the company’s fitness center will be utilized part-time for d.tech’s physical education programs.
As part of the project, existing community trails will be improved and new segments will be added to the San Francisco Bay Trail. Nearly two new acres of improved outdoor space will be available for the public.
Design Tech High School is targeting LEED for Schools Gold and is currently under construction. The DES Architects + Engineers-designed facility is scheduled to open in January 2018.