Remodelling the campus in the U.S. New Master Plan for the historic building

Parallax Architects and The Archer School for Girls are pleased to present "Archer Forward", a bold and elegant campus master plan proposed for the school's historic campus. The Master Plan will help fulfill Archer's promise and mission to provide an innovative 21st century education for girls while respecting history and the neighbourhood within the rich architectural context of the campus

The forward-looking plan represents the gold standard in women's education and how architecture can and should guide that mission. Having grown from just 30 students when it started classes 22 years ago, with the enrollment of about 500 students today, Archer has found it imperative to expand its facilities and services to extend its reach as a leading educational institution for today's young women

Craig Jameson and Joseph Masotta of Parallax Architects have conceived a master plan that conveys absolute confidence in the girls' potential to succeed, says Head of School Elizabeth English. An elegant design that further elevates Archer's campus as an icon among Los Angeles architecture

Two main objectives: to preserve the historic building, a 1931 Los Angeles cultural and historical monument, which the architecture critic Aaron Betsky claimed "seems to be the result of centuries of thinking and planning". The other, to transform the existing land into an entirely new, pedestrianized campus, which includes about seven acres and four new buildings. New features include a welcome garden to accommodate campus visitors; an academic center to replace the non-historical north wing of the existing building; an athletics center to support high school and junior high school physical and athletic education programs; a Performing Arts Center; and a visual arts center, all supported by parking spaces under a new soccer and softball field

The carefully scaled down buildings and the dense landscape around the project perimeter meet the privacy concerns of students and local residents while maintaining the serene atmosphere of the neighbourhood and campus

The new design of the campus is inspired by the idea of an "urban forest", a concept that comes from the writings of one of the founders of the school in which he narrates a story from classical mythology about girls who spend time in the forest to become skilled, enterprising women