This award-winning 175,000-sf high school for 800 students was designed to take full advantage of natural daylight. The bright atrium, naturally lit with continuous clerestory and circular skylights, is bounded by a sweeping arc of classrooms and open to the dining commons. It has become the central meeting place for students and teachers. The exterior uses an innovative terra cotta rain-screen cladding system with aluminum sun shades to control daylight into the classrooms.

The new Auburn High School is located adjacent to athletic fields, a 200-foot environmental buffer, and a noisy interstate highway. Beyond these physical challenges, the school community possessed a strong desire to transform an academic culture already fractured by a poorly planned existing high school into one with strong community focus.

The architectural solution arranges large core functions, including the gymnasium and auditorium, in a rectilinear bar running parallel to the interstate highway. Shielded from the roadway by this buffer, the classrooms are arrayed in a broad arc overlooking the play fields. An intriguing, light-filled, three-story atrium emerges amidst the arc and bar. This dynamic space is a multi-level, singular meeting and circulation area that connects all spaces physically and visually within the building. It embodies the strong sense of community at Auburn High School.

Honors and Awards