BALLONA HABITAT: Culver City Middle School Outdoor Classroom
Culver City, CA

At the start of the project, Panther Partners of CCMS, the school’s booster club, approached Sato Architects to design a new outdoor classroom, after getting bids for another person's design that cost 3 times their budget. As we only had 3 months until the start of summer, when construction would be feasible, our guiding principles for this project were sustainability, speed, and cost, aspects which pointed to a light touch to maximize our impact. We selected a site that was well-situated next to the heart of the campus, called “Panther Plaza”. This open area was often cordoned-off due to mud, because it was a grassy area with a large stormwater drain in the center, fed by a drainage ditch. After evaluating the site and the client’s budget, Sato Architects proposed a design for a wood deck spanning over a dry creek bed, referencing the neighboring Ballona Creek. The dry creek works with the existing site drainage and topography without the need for grading, and filters runoff before it reaches the storm drain. We incorporated native and drought-tolerant plants into the landscaping,and used Dasso composite bamboo decking as a durable and sustainable building material. This project was completed with Meg Rushing Coffee, Landscape Architect.

Photography by: Matt Kaluzne