Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, Los Angeles
Posted
02/14/2012
Located on the grounds of the former Ambassador Hotel in Los
Angeles, where Senator Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, the Robert
F. Kennedy Community Schools is a K-12 complex designed by Gonzales
Goodale Architects, Pasadena, Calif. The campus features
approximately 95,000 square feet of RHEINZINK metal wall panels
from RHEINZINK America Inc., Woburn, Mass. RHEINZINK was used
throughout the multi-building complex, including 35,000 square feet
of 0.8-mm, 22-gauge RHEINZINK Pre-weathered Blue-Gray Double Lock
Standing Seam Panels; 50,000 square feet of 0.8-mm, 22-gauge
RHEINZINK Pre- weathered Blue-Gray Angled Standing Seam Panels and
10,000 square feet of RHEINZINK Pre-weathered Blue-Gray
Interlocking Tile Soffit.
The campus is divided into a K-5 school, a middle school and a
high school. Of particular interest is the 92,000-square-foot K-5
school, a 44-classroom, two-story structure clad with RHEINZINK.
Aesthetically, the RHEINZINK panels serve as a contrast to other
brightly painted building materials, including painted plaster and
perforated metals in a spectrum that combines white, charcoal gray,
bright orange and yellow-green.
As the RHEINZINK panels are 100 percent recyclable, they fit in
nicely with the overall use of sustainable design found in the
Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. The campus exceeds the
Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS), an assessment
system that rates school buildings in terms of sustainability and
construction. All new schools in the Los Angeles Unified School
District are built to meet CHPS criteria.
Aside from the school's name, the campus works off an innovative
Pilot School System that creates small 500-student schools united
under the banner of the Robert F. Kennedy Schools campus. The
campus also features extensive public art, including two murals
that capture the life and passions of Robert F. Kennedy. The
architects also preserved several vestiges of the historic hotel,
including the large sign on Wilshire Boulevard, the Embassy
Ballroom and renovation of the famed Cocoanut Grove to include a
500-seat auditorium.
The RHEINZINK panels were fabricated by Contemporary Solutions
& Innovations, Carson, Calif., and installed by Best
Contracting, Gardena, Calif. The general contractor on the project
was Hansel Phelps Construction Company, Irvine, Calif.
RHEINZINK America Inc., www.rheinzink.com,