The new two-story, 33,608-square-foot Student Services building is a key facility in the second phase of Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District’s facilities improvement plan. Designed with a dramatic sloped roof and school colors, the building is a central hub for students and staff, with offices for administration, student union, and student services, as well as designated areas where students can study and collaborate. The facility provides essential space for academic support, the counseling department, community and mental health resources, and the college and career center.
Utilizing steel moment frames to support the building laterally allowed for an open floor plan, which provided clean sightlines throughout the space. At the primary entrance of the building, a double-height atrium space provides a striking corridor. The building prominently features a sloped roof that connects the second floor on one side of the building to the roof level on the other side of the building, which required careful consideration of seismic force distribution and building response. A seismic gap was used to separate the two portions of the building, which included separating the bridge that crosses the atrium space. To add a feeling of warmth to the otherwise large and impressive atrium space, exposed glulam beams were used as a prominent feature of the long-span roof framing.