Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/619098
Diamond Ranch High School P O M O NA I F T H I S F U T U R I S T I C and starkly dramatic campus looks familiar, that's because it's been the setting for numerous commercials and films, including Live Free or Die Hard, The Cell and Orange County. It also is on the list of the "30 Most Amazing High School Campuses in the World." The tri-level school, opened in 1999, was designed in an expressionist modern style by Morphosis design firm and built into the side of a mountain. Funds for the $80 million cost came from a combination of bond money, school district funds and a grant from the City of Industry. Situated on 72 acres of land previously considered "unusable," Diamond Ranch's angular, jutting structures integrate into the sur- rounding landscape. Classrooms and stairwells boast spectacular views. Three distinct schools-within-a-school feature clusters of classrooms, each with its own courtyard. Two rows of fragmented, interlocking forms on either side of a central "canyon," or street, cut through the face of the hillside and allow for student interac- tion. Says Alice Y. Kimm in Architecture Week, "If buildings really do reflect society's values, we can applaud the new Diamond Ranch High School. Here is a place where social conscience coexists comfortably with creativity and imagination." "I love it. We've seen rabbits outside our doors and once saw a hawk fly off with a squirrel. Sometimes I have to tell my students to stop looking out the window. You can get lost in the view, and it's mesmerizing when the clouds align with the mountains and the light changes." — KENNETH LAMBRIGHT, math teacher, Associated Pomona Teachers 28 cta.org THE ISSUE INNOVATION