Coastal Commision OKs Plan To Replace Malibu High Building

MALIBU, CA — The California Coastal Commission has approved the plan by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District to replace Building E at Malibu High School instead of upgrading it.

The Commission approved the Coast Development Permit Amendment at its meeting in San Diego Thursday. The original plan for the middle school building included renovating the interior of the building along with a small addition, as part of the campus improvement project for Malibu High.

The new building, a GrowthPoint building, will be a predominantly modular structure and constructed from repurposed shipping containers with some of the support space and an elevator occupying a traditional construction front to the building, the district sadi. The exterior lighting is specifically designed to complement Malibu’s dark sky goals by using low lighting temperature LED fixtures that are motion-sensored to dim when there is no activity, according to the district.

The replacement building will have 12 classrooms in a two story building, with all the entrances facing toward the interior of the school rather than half of the classrooms facing the base of a steep hill.

The Malibu subcommittee of the Facility Advisory Committee recommended the replacement of the building instead of modernization and numerous parents and community members supported this plan during open public comments at the March 16, 2017 board of education meeting held in Malibu.

“The replacement building will be well suited for 21st century learning, access, and campus space and flow,” Superintendent Ben Drati said. “Installation of the sustainable GrowthPoint building will also take less time than modernization, and be completed at a lower cost than traditional new construction.”

Plans are under way for the existing Building E, which has not housed classes since December 2016, to be demolished this summer, the district said.

Photo courtesy of the SMMUSD