The Burlingame Intermediate School (BIS) Student Resource Center and Quad fulfills the District’s ten-year vision to create a new “heart” for this campus, serving the entire Burlingame community. The new SRC provides gym, recreation, and learning spaces shared with the Burlingame community recreation department, and replaces the original outmoded campus gym.

The building reorients existing campus circulation to establish an inviting circulation concourse from the campus entrance to the heart of the campus.

Building functions are arranged on either side of the concourse, with a gym space on one side and offices, support areas, and large exercise studios on the other. Clerestory windows and skylights bring natural daylight into every space and create a light-filled path into the campus.

Openable glass walls along the concourse provide views of student activities and provide the option to open the entire building to special events, such as the annual science fair. Although the two studios are designed to function as exercise rooms, they include flexible features so they can also be used as classrooms.

Each side of the SRC frames a new outdoor space that enhances circulation and campus activities. On the south side, the new quad space links the existing cafeteria, media center, and classroom buildings and provides flexible space for outdoor dining and socialization, as well as spaces for outdoor learning and campus functions. The design fulfills the original vision of our site master plan to enhance community engagement and campus life with an outdoor space that better connects the school to the community. The north side frames the campus entrance and provides an outdoor link to the newly renovated Auditorium. The west side connects the building to the original classroom wings and includes large insulated translucent panels for daylighting to the gym without glare. On the east side, a new courtyard enhances the shared outdoor space for breakout activities for the exercise studios and the adjacent Music wing.

The main Quad area provides shaded space for outdoor learning and is designed to support informal social groups as well as outdoor dining. The size and arrangement of the Quad can support school- and community-wide activities, like back-to-school night and graduation.

Interior lighting is designed to take advantage of abundant natural daylighting, and rooftop photovoltaics provide onsite energy generation, with all-electric building systems to make it net-zero energy ready.