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Burbank High School was founded in 1908.

Telephone: (818) 558-4700 (2006);

Burbank school officials planned a 420,000 square foot expansion to take place in two phases; the first phase was slated to cost $60 million and was finished in 09/2002; in this phase, four existing buildings containing classrooms were torn down and three new ones, with a total of 150,000 square feet, were erected; the new structures, designed to accommodate 2,700 students (the old campus was designed for 1,800) and 103 teachers, featured 73 classrooms, science labs, an indoor/outdoor dining facility, a state-of-the-art library (open to the public after school hours), an auto shop and administrative offices. Architect, Vincent Petito, the project manager, called the style of the new school "contemporary campus architecture." He said that the brick facades of the older campus buildings were retained on the exterior through the use of materials and colors to foster a sense of tradition. Major exterior materials included brick veneer, cement plaster and a standing-seam metal roof system. A steel-brace frame with concrete/metal-deck floors and masonry comprised the structural system. Jack Hall, project manager for Bernards Brothers, the building constractor, said replacing an entire high school, while at the same time keeping it in full operation, came down to "a coordination issue between the school and us." He said it was important to keep a barrier between construction and the students, to make sure there were no safety issues with students and to not interrupt utilities or service. Hall added that he also had to deal with giant boulders deposited on the site years before by a former storm channel. Phase two of the project was built beginning in 2001. This 50,000-sq.-ft. endeavor included the renovation of an existing 1,300-seat auditorium and construction of a new 1,400-seat gymnasium and an Olympic-size swimming pool. Another component of the second phase was a two-level, 320-car parking structure-built into the side of the sloping campus-that features tennis courts on the roof. Because of the campus's sloping topography--it drops about 30 ft. from east to west along a 500-ft. plane--Petito said designers developed a terraced scheme. He said the terracing allowed for the grouping together of athletic fields at the top of the 16-acre site and the creation of a series of student plazas and circulation areas below. Petito added that the school would contain energy-saving features such as shading devices and dual glazing, natural light and ventilation, occupancy control of the lighting fixtures and a highly efficient HVAC system.

PCAD id: 3550