School Design Guide

School Design Guide

The "School Design Guide" has been developed to provide guidance to design professionals in order to establish a consistent level of quality in school facilities throughout the District. It reflects the District's experience in building and operating schools while balancing the needs for instructional functionality with aesthetics, practical comforts, sustainability, accessibility, ease of maintenance and operation, and assurance of safety.

The document has been organized into different sections corresponding with various design disciplines and how they relate to the needs of school environments. It incorporates and complements the requirements and standards of other LAUSD documents that govern the design of school facilities.

The School Design Guide also includes Submittal Requirements that define in detail the level of completion of design submittals for each milestone phase of the A&E Agreement. They provide a basis for evaluating the A&E’s submittal for completeness and payment, and serve as a checklist for reviewing the design, commenting on deficiencies or non-compliance with design guidelines, and approving the design for advancing to the next phase.

Commissioned architects and engineers, as well as in-house design professionals, shall follow the requirements and standards presented in the Guide for the planning and design of new schools, and reconstruction, modernization, and additions at existing facilities. The guidelines are not intended to stifle creativity of innovation. If a designer feels that deviations will benefit a specific project or that site constraints make implementation of certain guidelines impractical, the variations may be incorporated into the design with written approval of the District' authorized representative.

Current School Design Guide

Previous School Design Guide Versions