Alder Creek Middle School

The Alder Creek Middle School located in the Lake Tahoe region, was designed to embrace a community culture of environmental awareness and protection. Selected as a demonstration school for California’s Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) program, the 85,000 sf facility was constructed with a holistic approach to creating the best learning environment for its students. In spite of the site’s slope to the east, the building is oriented on an east-west axis to take advantage of optimum daylight and to create a large south facing student plaza – a sunny gathering place in the cold Truckee climate. The two story building is cut into the hillside, using its concrete masonry exterior to provide insulation against extreme temperatures while minimizing the visual impact of the building within a scenic view corridor.