Trabuco Hills High School stadium officially re-opened over the winter with WD’s design of a new track and field and upgraded adjacent facilities. With Trabuco Hills High School Athletics boasting the #1 Boys Track Team in Orange County and the football, lacrosse and track teams competing with top-notch OC talent, a new track and field has been a long time coming for athletes, coaches and fans alike.
The existing Trabuco Hills High School stadium previously housed a 10-year-old, deteriorating track and field with adjacent facilities over twenty years old. Saddleback Valley USD engaged Westgroup Designs to pump up the athlete and fan experience at the stadium. WD’s design of the new improvements include replacement of the existing synthetic turf with a more durable synthetic turf system; replacement of the existing asphalt base and track surface with a new urethane track and asphalt; and accessibility upgrades to the adjacent stadium facilities, including overall path of travel, drinking fountains, restrooms, bleacher seating, and assisted listening devices.
Trabuco Hills High School’s new track and field and stadium upgrades are the beginning of a series of improvements that WD is designing and delivering at Saddleback Valley USD’s high school campuses, including Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo and Trabuco Hills High Schools.
On April 5, the Coast Community College District Board of Trustees confirmed the selection of Westgroup Designs (WD) to provide planning and programming services to Coastline Community College, one of three colleges in the Coast Community College District. Coastline is a unique institution, serving both local and remote students through their four Orange County Centers and a robust distance-learning program.
WD will begin by creating a more collaborative workplace environment and a new 'one-stop' student services experience at Coastline’s College Center. At Coastline's three instructional campuses, WD will be working with stakeholders to provide integrated and technologically-enabled administrative and student support services for an enhanced educational experience, improved community engagement, and a cohesive branded-environment that reflects Coastline’s values.
Watch out SpaceX, There’s a New Inventor in Town.
Architectural Design Director, Kenneth Ong, AIA and his 6-year-old son, Ryan, engaged in a fun STEM activity at the Astounding Inventions 2017 event. Ryan had great fun building and launching several iterations to improve the design and durability of his rocket.
Who Needs an iPad When You Can Build Your Own Computer?
Director of Strategy, Renee Rose Andrade and her husband help their 6-year-old daughter, Aria, build her own Kano computer. Aria has an enduring interest in computer technology (aka iPads and iPhones), and now she has a blast learning to code games, art, music and even apps on her Kano computer.
Put the Elf Back on the Shelf. Leprechaun Traps Spark Creativity That’s as Good as Gold.
Senior Interior Designer, Vickie Nicola, CID and her 5-year-old-son, Gavin, create traps to capture mischievous Leprechauns in the weeks leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. Gavin builds the Leprechaun traps out of blocks, legos, and toys and then puts a coin in the center. The goal being to lure in the Leprechaun and have the structure collapse and trap him. It makes for exciting mornings when the family dog or cat knocks the trap down the night before, because Gavin is convinced his traps are working!
This year's theme was "Villains", which did not disappoint. Using a similar setup to the TV show Project Runway, Interior design and architecture firms, independent designers and students were given one hour to create a villain using finishes and materials utilized for interior design. The hustle was fun, fast, and crazy as teams scrambled and successfully created intricate costumes inspired by everyone's favorite villains.
Westgroup Designs built four costumes from The Little Mermaid. Ursula, her two eel minions, and the little mermaid made memorable appearances on stage, with Ursula and her dark magic captivating the crowd.
A huge thank you to our sponsors, Mohawk Group and Daltile for helping make this vision happen!
Tustin Unified School District (TUSD) has a legacy of excellence in education and the District holds its facilities to the same high standards. Originally built in 1969 and last renovated in 1991, Robert P. Heideman Elementary School is ready for a modernization like many other aging school facilities in the District. As part of TUSD’s larger goal of increasing parity amongst all schools in the District, Westgroup Designs (WD) was brought in to design much-needed upgrades on campus. The vision for the 21,000 sf of improvements center around creating maintenance-friendly landscaping and seating areas, improving drop-off and pick-up circulation, and presenting a new face to the community while maintaining campus security.
Westgroup Designs, in collaboration with District and Heideman Elementary School stakeholders through our iterative design process, are finalizing the conceptual design for a new entry façade and plaza that will create a greater civic presence in the community and a more welcoming and engaging public space for students, teachers and parents to meet and socialize in.
Currently Heideman Elementary School’s entrance is dominated by awkward geometries, difficult-to-maintain landscaping and industrial fencing. WD introduced a material and landscape palette that purposely complements the look and feel of newer school sites in the District. The robust, industrial-grade security fencing is being replaced with new fencing appropriately-scaled for the community and students while a new manufactured stone entry façade presents an improved civic image while maintaining access control. The school’s existing vehicular student drop-off is intensely congested with only a partial lane truncated by diagonal parking spaces. WD reconfigured the parking to allow for a contiguous, longer drop-off lane to streamline vehicular circulation and improve the safety of students that walk or ride bikes to school.
Westgroup Designs’ resulting design strengthens the Heideman Elementary School’s learning community by encouraging social interaction and enhancing the sense-of-pride on campus, all while maintaining campus security and supporting the District’s goal of increasing parity amongst its schools. Westgroup Designs and Tustin Unified School District are moving forward with design development to maintain a schedule for having construction complete in time for the 2017-2018 school year.
Take a 360 tour of the Existing Site.
Take a 360 tour of the New Design.
“[Westgroup Designs] introduced TUSD to the term ‘Campus Transformation’ in the design work they’ve provided at a few of our aging sites. I have found that the entire team at Westgroup is of the highest professional and ethical caliber and are always on the leading edge of providing quality and timely services.”
David Miranda
Sr. Director of Maintenance, Operations & Facilities Tustin Unified School District
Westgroup Designs’ office took a galactic twist to raise money for the 2016 State School Bond Campaign. The $9 billion state school bond will fund new construction and modernizations for K-14 schools and provide matching funds for local bonds. 21st century learning environments require 21st century facilities, and the event had an outer space theme to inspire and launch curiosity for the future of learning.
Featuring high-tech, hands-on learning and STEAM ideas, “A Cosmic Affair” was the perfect event to raise funds for 21st century facilities. Virtual reality was on display, from VR headsets to holographic walls, as well as collaborative furniture and AR devices for classrooms. With Live and Silent Auctions that had prizes such as tours of SpaceX, raffles for drones, and games that could win you tickets to Tomorrowland at Disney, there were plenty of outerspace opportunities to have fun donating!
Bringing in over 150 attendees, the starry night was successful. More than $50,000 was raised, making “A Cosmic Affair” the third-largest grossing fundraiser event for Coalition for Adequate Student Housing’s Proposition 51 Campaign.
