Specialized Facility: New or Modernized

Award of Merit

Bob Murphy County Community Day School

San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools

NTDSTICHLER Architecture

Bob Murphy County Community Day School is a new 10-classroom community school commissioned by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools.  The program includes an administration building to provide offices and work areas for the faculty and staff, a multi-purpose building with a warming kitchen for various student assemblies and community functions aimed at reengagement of students and parents. 

One of the key challenges of this project was to try to create an environment for the students that fostered a desire to succeed. The concept and design therefore attempts to re-engage disenfranchised students by introducing a new paradigm with a focus to address the specific needs that traditional models of education could not provide. The basic concept for the new school incorporates materials and shapes that are prevalent within the industrial neighborhood while maintaining a scale the students can relate to.  This project also demonstrates responsible citizenship by example with its energy efficient design.  It’s one of the few projects in California’s school design world that exceeds the state’s mandated title 24 energy standards.  The design exceeds the minimum of 25%, and this efficiency is acknowledged by the state with an extra 5% funds.

Jurors appreciated the amount of resources the district allocated towards these students, who are usually separated and put into very marginal facilities.  It shows those students that the district still cares about their ability to learn.  One juror said, “it’s the first new design I’ve seen that really took into consideration the learning needs of a special group of students by providing them with an alternative program in an environment that says ‘we value you as students and we believe that you can learn and be successful’.”