School's debut a classy act for S.J. UnifiedStudents, officials praise $17 million campus
That's because the Willow Glen school, named for the noted San Jose educator and Nobel Prize nominee, is more than just new. It's also a unique architectural statement -- a colorful structure meant to make school an inviting place to learn. But splashy design and final construction touches weren't the paramount concerns for Galarza School's most important patrons Wednesday -- the first day of school for the entire San Jose Unified School District. The students, including 9-year-old Anh Truong, seemed far more preoccupied with finding their classrooms in the unfamiliar two-story building and locating friends. Shivering in the morning chill, Anh practically dragged his mom to Room 117 once he found his name on the fourth-grade roster. ``I'm kind of nervous, because it's a new school,'' he said, brown eyes searching for friendly faces. In honor of Galarza's debut, Principal Katie Milligan, the superintendent and school board members gathered to cut the ribbon to the school's tree-studded interior courtyard. The school architect beamed like a new dad. Meanwhile, parents snapped first-day-of-school photos in front of slender saplings, teachers reviewed class rules and kindergartners' eyes welled with tears when they forgot how to find their classrooms after recess. The ocher, terra cotta and teal building sits at Pine and Bird avenues. Eventually, it will educate up to 750 students. It was constructed to relieve crowding at Washington and Gardner schools downtown, as part of San Jose Unified's court-ordered return to neighborhood schools. But Galarza's design suggests that building the school was much more than an obligation. The enclosed building's exuberant architecture recalls San Jose's Tech Museum more than the blocky beige schools that sprouted across California in the 1960s and '70s. Visitors are welcomed by an arched doorway, with large crayon-shaped columns. The hallways glow with natural light from skylights. And the outside kindergarten yard is walled for safety and features a small stream that teachers can work into lessons. In coming months, student artwork will be incorporated into the school, helping decorate the clock tower. ``Not just this year, but for years and years and years to come, it's going to be a wonderful learning environment for kids,'' said Superintendent Linda Murray. The school's design reflects the passion of Bill Gould -- a high school dropout who later became an architect. It has received mostly positive reviews, although some neighbors have complained that the colors are garish. Other parents have worried that the school's low walls and landscaping boulders could be dangerous if students jump on them. Gould said the features have not been a problem at other schools he has helped to design. The idea is ``to provide an environment that is exciting to students first and to the staff and the community,'' said Gould, who has worked on renovation projects at Theuerkauf Elementary School in Mountain View and Broadway High in San Jose. ``We work very hard to not design boxes. The environment had to be engaging in a positive way.'' Inside, the rooms have pupil-size desks and fresh new blue plastic chairs. Each classroom has storage galore: a sink and cabinets for art and science projects and a ``learning wall'' that includes whiteboards hiding shelves and a television. The floors, which look like dappled limestone, are actually concrete and easy to clean when first-day jitters become a queasy stomach. Bathrooms feature blue, yellow and green tiles. ``The efforts now are toward creating the beauty within the school,'' said Principal Milligan, who studied under Ernesto Galarza at San Jose State University. ``It's already beautiful outside.'' Much of the school's design, from its colorful look to the evolving ``art park'' out front, reflect current trends in school construction, said Duwayne Brooks, director of school facilities for the California Department of Education. ``You need an attractive learning environment that stimulates learning and keeps kids interested,'' he said. By recess, the school was earning high marks from third-grade students Sophia Rodriguez and Sandra Navarro, friends for years who now attend the same school. ``I like the school -- everything is new,'' said Sandra, before getting her snack of lemonade and graham crackers. ``It's a small school and not so crowded.''
Contact Kate Folmar at kfolmar@sjmercury.com or (408) 920-5651.
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Galarza's design functional, fanciful
Through Gould's persistence, however, the Galarza design has both met those demands and emerged with a fanciful character and landmark quality that should bond it to its students and neighborhood. Along with the design for the new Horace Mann School in downtown San Jose, Galarza points the way to a new imagination and originality in school design. Let's hope it continues. The buildings have a pleasing informality. A palette of yellows, greens and reds mix in tile and stucco. The main gateway entry is a collection of cones, cylinders and spheres like something out of a kid's toy chest. The buildings walk a fine line between high style deconstructivism (note the parallels to Silicon Graphic's Mountain View buildings) and the startling whimsy of fairy tale architecture as found at San Jose's Happy Hollow Zoo or Oakland's Fairyland. The warped roofs that seem to slide off some of Galarza's walls would be at home in either camp. Gould is intentionally designing for children, he says. It's a good place to start. Think of the time our children spend in school buildings, which can have a tremendous impact on children's expectations for their environment. Schools can be regular, factory-like and antiseptic. Or they can be colorful, intriguing and embracing like Galarza. ``Engaging'' is the word Gould uses, and it is an excellent quality for architecture. The sooner kids learn that environments reflect the people who use them, the sooner they will realize that they can take a hand in shaping those environments. After decades marked by sprawling, low-rise schools, Galarza returns to the era of William Weeks, architect of dozens of schools throughout our region in the 1920s and 1930s. Weeks' school buildings, like Hoover School in the Rose Garden area, were imposing neighborhood landmarks. So is Galarza. Although Weeks' schools were usually formal, suiting an era when students sat in straight rows and memorized Longfellow, Gould updates the neighborhood landmark for a more relaxed era. The whimsical clock tower marks the two-story school as a civic building just as the bold colors and materials set it apart from nearby homes. The big open public entry on the south side -- with an art park at the corner -- throws its arms open to the community.
Galarza's success can be traced to Gould's ability to stretch the usual boundaries of architecture. As a sculptor -- he crafted one of the sharks now trolling through downtown San Jose -- he sees things from a different perspective. That's a good lesson for the Galarza students to learn.
Contact Alan Hess at alhess@aol.com.
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