After years, Samo's Discovery Building is open for classes
After several years of noise, dust and construction zones, students are finally able to enjoy the benefits of the new Discovery Building. Although most Samo students have already been able to check out the Discovery Building, which opened for business in August, even frequent visitors may not be aware of all of the building’s unique features and details.
The three story, 280,000 square foot building was designed to be an “open” building with a raised floor and non-load-bearing walls that can be moved and reconfigured as teacher and student needs change. In fact, the Discovery Building is the first educational building in the world to have an “open building plan,” which is based on the idea of spaces being flexible and adaptable to future needs, rather than, for example, being designed only around classrooms of a fixed size and shape. This will allow the building to serve changing student needs for decades to come.
Some of the building’s most prominent features include an Olympic-sized 50 meter pool, a new cafeteria and additional underground parking with 288 spaces. Having been in use since the beginning of the school year, students have had time to form opinions on these new features.
Hope Hamilton (’24) is a member of the Samo water polo team and is part of the first group of students to get to experience the new Discovery Building pool.
“The new pool is so much nicer than Drake. It’s really big, and there’s a lot of great equipment,” Hamilton said.
In addition to its more prominent features, the Discovery Building also includes some lesser known features that few have yet been able to experience. The building’s rooftop, the last portion of the project to be completed, is one of the most unique aspects of the new structure. It will include outdoor classrooms and laboratories, a garden, solar panels and ocean views. All of these new features do not come without a large price tag. The building cost $133 million, which was paid for from a $485 million bond approved by Santa Monica voters in 2018.
So how does the Discovery Building actually function in an everyday school environment?
French teacher, Nadia Smith, recently moved to the third floor of the Discovery Building from the history building, which was recently demolished.
“It’s really refreshing having technology and bathrooms that work. It’s a great building to be in and I feel lucky,” Smith said.
Students have similar positive opinions about the building, including Samo student Halie Matsui (’23), who has multiple classes in the Discovery Building.
“It’s definitely an improvement from the Language and History buildings. It would be nice to have speakers for announcements in the morning, but overall it’s really nice and clean,” Matsui said.
