September 22, 2020
SAN DIEGO - Drive down El Cajon Boulevard in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego and you will find a transformed Herbert Hoover High School.
The old counseling and administration buildings have been torn down and replaced with modern learning facilities that have dramatically restored the school’s historic frontage on El Cajon Boulevard.
Designed with extensive community input, the project is inspired by Spanish-style architecture that combines an old-fashioned schoolhouse concept with an energy-efficient modern design.
WATCH: Virtual Tour of Hoover’s New Classroom and Performing Arts Buildings
With a new three-story building housing 20 classrooms and student services support spaces, the tower that featured prominently in the original Hoover High School, and long beloved by the Hoover community, has been brought back as part of this project.
Adjacent to the new classroom building and tower, a state-of-the-art 500-seat theater was also constructed. The theater includes a box office with professional studio light controls, a shade structure, a concierge desk, modern performance stage, stage lighting, red curtains, a control room and a stage camera that streams the show live to a front lobby TV.
Directly supporting Hoover’s Visual and Performing Arts program, the new theater has two instructional classrooms, one of which has vertical windows that lead to a new outdoor courtyard and stage that links the existing campus to the new facilities.
Additional amenities in the theater include dressing rooms, makeup spaces, costume storage spaces, a costume construction room and walls that will celebrate supporters of Hoover’s VAPA program. This project has also improved campus security with new security cameras throughout the project area and a key card entry system in the new buildings. New security technology has been added to the student services front desk, allowing staff to screen visitors before they enter campus.
Ornamental gates secure the front entrance during a school day, creating a controlled visitor point of entry.
Supporting student health, the new theater and classroom buildings have filtered hydration stations and vaping detectors in bathrooms.
New landscaping has been provided throughout the project area, and the parking lot off El Cajon Boulevard has been improved, including a student drop-off and pick-up loop, handicap parking and expanded staff parking.
More information about the project and other projects are here: http://fpcprojects.sandi.net.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Samer Naji, Facilities Communication Supervisor, [email protected].
Jamie Ries, Facilities Communication Liaison, [email protected].
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