Bella Vista High School STEM Building

Bella Vista High School is adding a new $13 million, 22,000-SF Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) building as part of a major overhaul on campus by the San Juan Unified School District. The districtwide improvements total more than $117 million in “signature” projects at nine high school campuses. The design-assist expansion and retrofit of the school’s existing science building ties two concrete shop buildings together to create several new state-of-the-art “Smart Classrooms.” This addition and a new engineering laboratory create the new STEM classrooms. The unified space is accomplished through the installation of a steel-framed “Maker Space.” This addition visually connects the units, but all of the STEM structures are separated by seismic gaps to mitigate potential earthquake damage. Because this is an open and operational school, scheduling and construction phasing were required to minimize disruption to the campus. Miyamoto introduced AB 300 matching funds for seismic retrofit to the district and led the DSA and DGS process to deliver a refund of 14 percent of the project budget back to the district.