Pica + Sullivan 2026

2009

Los Angeles, California

Center for Teaching and Learning

OVERVIEW

Windward School’s Center for Teaching and Learning reimagines the school library as a three-level environment for inquiry, collaboration, focused reading, and digital creation. Designed as part of a broader campus expansion, the building supports multiple learning styles while strengthening connections across the school.

CLIENT

Windward School is an independent school in West Los Angeles. Its vision for the Center focused on nourishing intellectual curiosity, supporting independent learning, and encouraging cross-disciplinary thinking through spaces responsive to the evolving role of libraries.

PROJECT SCOPE

Building Area: 14,000 SF

Opening Date: 2009

Certification: LEED Gold

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN GOALS

The design set out to transform the traditional library into a flexible learning hub where students and teachers could research, collaborate, read, create, and share ideas. Comfort, adaptability, technology, natural light, and environmental responsibility guided the building’s organization and character.

KEY INTERVENTIONS

Each level supports a distinct mode of learning. The first-floor Research Center serves as a collaborative campus hub with electronic databases, digitized journals, interactive media, Smart Boards, group study rooms, and teaming stations. Above, the Reading Room offers a quieter setting with comfortable seating, a fireplace, books and periodicals, small study alcoves, a soaring clerestory, and an outdoor reading deck. The lower-level Digital Media Studio includes fully equipped broadcast and multimedia studios for producing documentaries, news stories, web publications, oral histories, designs, and short films.

"The Center creates a range of environments where focus, conversation, inquiry, and making can each find their place."

CRAFT & ART

Custom study pods, developed with furniture designer dTank, shift between individual focus and collaborative work. Built-in seating and an outdoor deck extend learning beyond enclosed rooms, while clerestory daylight, durable sustainable materials, and clear sightlines create a welcoming, legible environment.

OUTCOME

The completed Center gives Windward School a library that is both technologically advanced and grounded in the enduring value of reading, reflection, and exchange. Its layered program allows different learning styles to thrive and establishes the building as a central place for intellectual curiosity, creative exploration, and community.