TIDE Academy by LPA: STEAM High School Design Review

TIDE Academy, designed by LPA in Menlo Park, California, is a three-storey public high school built around a curriculum of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). Its name stands for Technology, Innovation, Design and Engineering. The school sits on a compact two-acre site in a changing industrial area close to major technology companies, and its architecture is designed to support project-based, team-taught learning rather than rows of desks facing a board. This review looks at how TIDE Academy is planned, how its classrooms and outdoor spaces work, its environmental approach, and what school owners and education trusts in Pakistan can learn from it.

The Educational Brief

TIDE Academy’s curriculum prepares students for careers in technology and design. Teaching is based on projects, collaboration and team teaching, and students are encouraged to work independently and think critically. The school was also intended to build partnerships with local technology companies and links with nearby universities.

A conventional school plan, with identical classrooms along a corridor, does not support this way of teaching well. Projects need space to build and test, students need places to work in groups or alone, and teachers need to combine classes. LPA’s design starts from these needs.

Site Planning and Form

The building is shaped like a protective U that wraps around a terraced central courtyard. A broad staircase rises through the courtyard and ties the levels together. This arrangement does several things at once:

• It creates a secure, inward-looking heart for the school on a small urban site.
• It turns circulation into social space, because students move along open terraces rather than closed corridors.
• It shows the school’s activity to the surrounding neighbourhood, so education becomes visible to the community.

On a two-acre site, every square metre matters. Stacking the school over three floors and using the courtyard and terraces as shared outdoor space allows a full high school programme to fit on a plot that would be tight for a single-storey campus.

Learning Spaces Inside the School

The most important design decision at TIDE Academy is the size and flexibility of its teaching spaces. Classrooms and labs were enlarged to around 1,150 square feet each, with direct access to collaborative and outdoor areas.

Three ways of working

The design supports three distinct learning modes identified by the school: collaboration, contemplation and concentration. Operable walls let spaces open up for group work, writable surfaces cover walls for brainstorming, and smaller rooms allow quiet focus. Students choose the setting that suits the task, which is closer to how modern workplaces operate.

Furniture and services

Flexible rooms only work if furniture and services allow them to change. Movable tables and chairs, mobile storage and power and data points spread across floors and ceilings let a studio move from a lecture layout to group benches or an open build area in minutes. Specialist labs need extra provision for extraction, water and safe storage of tools and materials, but they are still planned so equipment can be rearranged as courses evolve.

Indoor-Outdoor Learning

At every level, learning spaces extend directly outdoors through large roll-up doors. In California’s mild climate this allows experiments, building projects and discussions to spill onto shaded decks. Most circulation happens outside on the terraced structure, which encourages movement and informal meetings between classes.

This approach depends on climate. In Pakistan, with hot summers in the plains and cold winters in the north, fully outdoor circulation would need adaptation. Covered verandas, deep shading, and courtyards with trees and water are traditional responses that work well in local schools.

Sustainability and Comfort

LPA reports that passive design strategies cut the school’s energy use substantially below an industry baseline, by around two-thirds. The main measures include:

• Daylight and views for all regularly occupied spaces, reducing the need for artificial lighting.
• A mesh scrim around large areas of glass, which filters direct sunlight and limits heat gain while keeping views open.
• Natural ventilation through operable doors and outdoor circulation.
• No student car parking, encouraging students to walk, cycle or use public transport.

For classrooms, fresh air and thermal comfort have a direct effect on concentration. Standards such as those published by ASHRAE set out ventilation rates for educational spaces and are a useful reference for mechanically ventilated schools.

STEAM School vs Traditional School Layout

What Works Well

• Architecture matches pedagogy. The building is designed around how the school teaches, not just how many classrooms it needs.
• Efficient use of a small site. A compact, stacked plan with shared outdoor terraces makes the most of two acres.
• Visible learning. The open courtyard and terraces show the school’s activity to the community and to partner companies.
• Choice for students. A range of room sizes supports collaboration, quiet thinking and focused work.

Points to consider

Larger, flexible studios require teachers who are trained to use them; without that, flexible furniture tends to settle back into rows. Outdoor circulation also needs good weather protection, security and supervision. These are management issues as much as design issues and should be discussed with the school leadership at the briefing stage.

Lessons for Pakistan

Private schools, colleges and education trusts in Pakistan are investing in new campuses, often on tight urban plots in cities such as Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. Many are also introducing STEM and STEAM programmes, robotics clubs and maker spaces. TIDE Academy offers several practical ideas.

School buildings in Pakistan must also meet structural and fire safety requirements under the Building Code of Pakistan and gain approval from the local authority, such as the Lahore Development Authority. Schools are places of assembly for children, so seismic design, safe exits and fire separation deserve particular care. Power cuts are another local factor: generator or solar backup for labs, lighting and fans keeps teaching going through load-shedding.

ACCO works as a school and college construction company in Lahore, providing design, approvals support and construction for educational buildings, with costs set out in an itemised BOQ. Our architectural design services can help education trusts develop a flexible campus brief. For other education projects, see our reviews of Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation and Columbia Business School.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

TIDE Academy shows how a school building can be shaped by the way students learn. Large flexible studios, small focus rooms, specialist labs and a courtyard that turns circulation into social space all support a project-based STEAM curriculum on a small urban site. Pakistani schools can apply the same thinking, adapted to local climate and budgets, to create campuses that prepare students for modern careers.