Originally Posted by Design Draw Build.
After submitting designs for three out of the last five years, putting our best foot forward with a new team paid off. Out of 72 entries, the jury awarded us the top honor award in the professional category. Our design creates an anchor for the local community – transforming Southern California’s commonplace iconography of a water tower into markers of place, sustainable futures, and communal identity.
Agualta STEAM Engine creates an oasis of climate resilience and scholastic achievement within this historically underserved community. The building is a mass timber structure designed on a modular grid, both for construction efficiency and as a connection to the street grid that defines the neighborhood.
A central plaza invites the community to gather in the middle school for flea markets, parties, classes, and performances. The contrast between the rationally rectilinear classrooms and the expressionism of the curved organic spaces reinforces the middle school’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) educational approach.
Our in-studio design team from Principal, Tyler Kobick to new staff all collaboratively conceived Agualta STEAM Engine over several design charrettes. As design lead, our Studio Manager, Charlie Boyd developed layout of the spaces, building systems integration, the overall design language, and managed the production of all deliverables.
Our new designer, Sam Miller’s interest in alternative energy storage sources is how the team conceived the water tower concept. Her energy analysis expertise lowered the energy use intensity of the original schematic design by 70%.
Another 2024 design team addition, Conrad Scheepers developed all the project’s visual renders. His use of computational tools in the modeling allowed us to create repeatable components that became a consistent design language throughout the project.
Our Marketing Communications Lead, Yanit Mehta created all written materials for the project and researched the East Los Angeles community’s story to ground design choices in the cultural context of the site to assess student needs. We are incredibly proud of our talented team’s success!