Today, Culver City, Calif.–based architecture firm Parallax Architects and the Archer School for Girls, an independent school located in Los Angeles, unveiled the "Archer Forward," a master plan designed for development of the school's historic campus. The context-oriented plan "will help fulfill Archer’s promise and mission to provide an innovative 21st–century education for girls while respecting the campus’ rich architectural history and neighborhood setting," according to a press release. Construction is set to begin this month following a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Dec. 8.
The "Archer Forward" master plan transforms the site into a pedestrian-only campus and adds four new buildings in addition to a new 9,000-square-foot arrival garden that will sit atop a new underground parking garage. The new buildings will consist of an academic center, an athletic center, a 350-seat performing arts center, and a visual arts center. According to the master plan, the Eastern Star Home, the school's 1931 main building designed by architect William Mooser, will be preserved and improved to meet the school's current educational and technological needs.
"Developing a master plan around Archer’s iconic historic building—a jewel in the great tradition of California architecture—meant finding harmony between the legacy and learning of the past and the promise of the future,” said Parallax's design director Craig Jameson, AIA, in the release. “The question was how to carry an historic architectural site into the 21st century in a manner that would further Archer’s progressive mission and remain sensitive to the surrounding residential community?”
In 2015, the master plan was unanimously approved by the City of Los Angeles' Planning Commission. According to the press release, the presented master plan is the result of a seven-year-long planning process.
