David Saperstein Middle School
Los Angeles, California
New Private Middle School for the Stephen S. Wise Temple
Size: 30,000 sf
Services: Architecture, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
Project Description: Situated on a steep hillside edging Mulholland Drive high above Los Angeles, Stephen Wise Temple’s new Middle School will provide an intimate, focused learning environment for 240 students. The goal is to integrate this facility into its rugged natural setting, create a community for education that both educators and students will enjoy and that achieves program goals within severe planning constraints. The school is designed to provide a place to establish personal identity, to make a safe and healthy transition from childhood to the teenage years, and to develop solid intellectual tools and a broad sense of academic knowledge. The facilities for the middle school include comfortable places to study and socialize, with a strong sense of spiritual identity and tradition. Each classroom has it’s own separate “library” dedicated to texts and class specific reference volumes and research materials. Each classroom also shares a computer resource center with another class. All classrooms have direct access to communal outdoor spaces. Administrative offices, student lounge and specialized classrooms are grouped around a semi-circular entry plaza while the general classrooms are clustered along terraced street, punctuated with a circular Bet Midrash as the spiritual focus of the school. An Amphitheater and climbing wall provide an outdoor focal point at the at the upper end of the site. The overall plan configuration creates a bold, sculptural and varied form.
Client: Stephen Wise Temple
Awards: Project of Distinction Award, 2011, Council of Educational Facility Planners Internationa,l Citation of Excellence (CEFPI), 2004, Learning By Design
Publications: “Light Filled Learning” by John R. Dale , FAIA, LEED AP Learning By Design Spring 2010, “David Saperstein Middle School” Learning By Design Spring 2010|, “Suzanne and David Saperstein Middle School” Learning By Design 2005,“Milken Middle School Gets New Campus” Jewish Journal.com 2009
"You have been instrumental in helping us develop a world-class middle school."
Norman Fogel, FTA, Stephen Wise Temple-
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“Our new beautiful, state-of the-art facility, built with such love by our community, needs to be a place where students feel safe and nurtured, challenged and supported during these less than calm times in their lives.” Jason L. Ablin, Head of School
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