Our firm was originally contracted to provide a feasibility study to assess a commercial property in Burbank that LILA was considering purchasing. Our study showed that building renovation work, to meet LILA’s programmatic needs, and City and Code requirements could be accommodated within the available budget. After LILA purchased the building, we were hired for this adaptive reuse project, transforming a 1950s former General Motors Training Center to a private, grades 6-12 French language immersion high school campus.
The conversion included code upgrades to change use from a “B” to “E” occupancy, and reconfiguration to carve 25 classrooms, a library, auditorium and administrative spaces out of 38,000 sf of interior space. As the existing building footprint, lent itself to a floor plan with more classrooms on interior corridors than on exterior walls, natural daylight was introduced through the ample use of skylights and solatubes. West-facing garage doors and single-glazed windows were replaced with storefront systems with high-performance glass.
