d.tech High School
About This Project
Location: Redwood Shores, CA
About the client: Design Tech High School, commonly referred to as d.tech, is a tuition-free public charter high school in Redwood City, California, part of the San Mateo Union High School District. Founded in 2014, the school has roughly 550 students (as of fall 2018) and focuses on implementing technology, self-direction, and the process of design thinking into its curriculum. the Oracle Education Foundation offered to build a $43 million campus for d.tech on an unused plot of land adjacent to the Belmont Slough. They agreed to lease the building to d.tech for $1 per year, symbolic of the goal of having a strong relationship with the school.
Size: 64,000 sf
Architect: DES
General Contractor: XL Construction
About the project: In keeping with their strong commitment to education, Oracle built a new school for DesignTech High School on their Redwood Shores campus.
The new 64,000 sf, 2 story building will house 550 students upon reaching full enrollment and will include facilities that allow “design thinking”, which is the hallmark of d.tech’s teaching strategy. Spaces like fabrication labs, chemistry and biology labs, impromptu break out areas for teachers and students, all-hands assembly areas, divisible large and small classrooms, and learning studios will be incorporated into the space to allow students to learn in teams and in non-traditional environments.
In addition, students will interact with Oracle employees on “collaboration days”. This means the students will be invited to work with a variety of Oracle engineers, computer scientists, and program managers to participate in ideas that go from the white board to fully functioning working models.
Because of the site location, this project went through extensive approval processes including development of a full EIR, Redwood City Planning Commission, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), as well as the traditional Building Department approvals, and numerous public outreach programs to educate the surrounding neighbors about the goals of the project.