Los Angeles Southwest College, Vision 2020 Los Angeles, California
The Master Plan for Los Angeles Southwest College (LASC) was developed to guide the implementation of voter-approved Measure CC. LASC is located in the southern half of the District within an area broadly known as South Los Angeles. At the heart of Los Angeles’ complex history of development and race relations, this area has evolved, and continues to evolve, significantly during the past century.
Location
Los Angeles, California
Sector
Education
Service
Planning
Client
Los Angeles Community College District
Status
Completed
Size
70 Acres
Bridging a range of stakeholder groups and long-standing campus issues, the Master Plan balanced the internal aspirations of the College with District standards and its relationship with the surrounding community to raise the dignity of the campus to a true college setting. Building upon an analysis linking LASC scheduling with performance- and data-metrics (e.g. capacity load ratios and space utilization rates), as well as physical conditions of LASC and the surrounding context, the primary elements of the Master Plan, focused on right-sizing facilities to prepare the campus for long-term growth and increasing accessibility to passive and recreational open spaces for the park under-served adjacent neighborhoods.
Based on analysis of existing conditions, previous planning documents, physical observations, and multiple meetings with the College Steering Committee, this update proposed four new buildings, and renovation of four existing building.
The Master Plan prioritizes a pedestrian system of landscape connections between buildings and to parking and transit areas. Landscape spaces also connect functional zones and link open space and pedestrian circulation. The formal framework is expressed in the central promenade, diagonal connective links and surrounding open spaces. In addition to creating spaces for social and academic gathering, this Plan proposed the development of a wellness circuit around the campus to promote health and wellness education for the students and the community at large.
