For most high school students, phrases like “the future is now” have become all too common. But for students at Mayfair High school in the Bellflower Unified School District, the future really is now, thanks to Westberg White Architecture and the cutting-edge new STEAM building that will be opening soon on the Mayfair campus.
Both exterior and interior wall framing has begun on the new building, and the basic electrical and mechanical infrastructure are now both in place as the project progresses toward the end of its most labor-intensive phase.
The $40 million, 80,000-square-foot, two-story building — which is also LEED Silver-certified — and its exterior courtyard are envisioned as a new centerpiece for the Mayfair campus, with the interior functions also adding excitement and energy to how it functions. Special attention has been devoted to exposing Mayfair students to a variety of activities and learning spaces – including hands-on labs, viewing areas, collective lecture and presentation spaces and collaborative work environments – across the entire STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) spectrum:
- Science laboratories with connected classrooms
- Wood fabrication shop and building yard
- Media center
- Stepped seating lecture hall
- Art, ceramics and photography classrooms/lab
- Career counseling spaces
- Math and CTE classrooms
- Teacher collaboration room
- Rooftop greenhouse
- Photovoltaic panels
Like all effective architecture, much of the Mayfair High STEAM building’s real impact will be felt through what happens inside: a new methodology for collaborative teaching that will combine existing STEAM disciplines into a project-based learning experience and allow students to create interconnected class activities that will evolve from conceptual development all the way to constructed components.