Topanga Elementary School Outdoor Classroom

The design for the Garden, or outdoor classroom project, was generated by a teacher’s vision for a performance area, quiet outdoor reading area and classroom vegetable gardens. The site was an underdeveloped and lifeless patch of land adjacent to the first grade classrooms. The project was partially built by the parent community. We created three trellis gateways to enter each section of the garden and named them Harmony (classroom vegetable gardens), Creativity (outdoor stage and seating) and Tranquility (topiary). The outdoor stage is built from recycled material used in skate parks and incorporates inset moons and stars on the stage. The benches have famous quotes engraved into them which were selected by the parent community. The topiary reading maze is a planted hedge trimmed to form a connected series of discrete reading rooms. The back drop to the stage was designed and fabricated by a parent.