Photo courtesy Curtis School

Curtis School Collaborative Learning Innovation Center

Los Angeles

Award of Merit

Submitted by: MATT Construction

Owner: Curtis School Foundation

Lead Design Firm: Pica + Sullivan Architects

General Contractor: MATT Construction

Civil Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers

Structural Engineer: Johnson Leifield Structural Engineering

Construction Management: Searock + Stafford Construction Management

Curtis School sits inside the Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan, whose requirements are drawn exclusively for residential buildings. As a result, a 21,000-sq-ft institutional building for an elementary campus had to be shaped to fit rules that were never intended to permit such a structure. The answer was to break the mass up: roof heights vary across the building and the exterior materials change with them, cutting the perceived scale enough for a two-story-plus-lower-level structure to sit quietly against the existing campus.…