New Discovery Building to Support Future-Ready Learning

The new Discovery Building at Santa Monica High School, located in California, has recently topped out. The building is planned to open for the 2021-22 school year. The $133-million, voter-approved building constructed by McCarthy Building Companies, will contain three stories.

The Discovery Building will house 43 classrooms, including science and computer labs, three multipurpose rooms, common areas and seminar rooms. The building will also be home to indoor and outdoor dining facilities, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a suite for medically fragile students, a rooftop garden classroom and a parking garage for nearly 300 cars. The 280,000-square-foot complex will cater social interactions and strengthen the sense of community on Samohi’s campus.

The Discovery Building will be replacing the existing Science and Technology Buildings, which were demolished last summer, and joins the recently completed Innovation Building, which provides 15 science labs, 18 classrooms and common areas. The new addition will transform the Samohi campus to support 21st-century, future-ready learning, serving the school community with flexibility and sustainability for the future years to come.