Oceanside High School’s new Performing Arts Center serves as an iconic gateway to the downtown Oceanside community. Moreover, the Center provides a positive face to the Interstate 5 freeway and Mission boulevard intersection, as well as welcomes visitors to the inner high school campus. The large, transparent lobby glows at twilight and in the evening hours. This space serves as its own multipurpose venue, uniting the plaza and two performance halls. The program for this facility is inclusive of a 500-seat main hall, 150-seat studio theater, indoor and outdoor scenery shops, a recording studio, classroom space, and outdoor seating with performance areas.
Timeless materials of block, glass and metal panel reflect a civic quality, but are also durable and will stand the test of time with heavy student and community use. The building has a distinctive silhouette from various perspectives that speaks to its function and provides orientation. The project offers integrated, versatile and inviting indoor/outdoor spaces: driveways, drop-off areas, parking and pedestrian plazas that contribute to a coherent, safe and readily occupied urban landscape.
Sustainable landscape and building strategies were utilized as part of the design. Some features include exposed southwest walls that are covered with a ‘green screen’ for cooling, as well as a broad roof overhang that protects from the elements and promotes indoor/outdoor use of the lobby with natural ventilation. Main spaces in the building employ displacement ventilation, taking advantage of the single-tiered seating and high volume in the theaters. A central plant is located in the exterior yard adjacent to the building for acoustical isolation and to maximize efficiency of the displacement cooling and heating system. The theater has load-bearing concrete masonry walls to provide thermal mass and to allow for night flushing to help cool the buildings in warm weather.