Yeshiva University Boys High School

The Yeshiva University Boys High School brings the spirit of Jerusalem to a tight urban site along a busy boulevard in West Los Angeles. This private high school for two hundred students was designed to be constructed in two phases: phase one, already complete, involves the renovation of an existing office building into classrooms, art exhibition spaces, a conference facility, and a Beit Midrash, or religious library; phase two creates a symbolic center for the campus with a dramatic new library and gymnasium. The 50,000-square-foot facility is connected to the adjacent Museum of Tolerance by a bridge. The complex encircles a cloister, creating a distinctive place for contemplation and socializing on a restricted site.

The overall intent is to summon the sense of being in Jerusalem without resorting to clichés or stylistic motifs. The combination of the smooth surfaces of white plaster against the blue California sky, Jerusalem stone, and a landscaping program of olive and cypress trees creates that feeling—while hewing to a contemporary, at times abstract, architectural spirit.

Size 50,000 SF
Location  Los Angeles, California 
Year 2001
Client Simon Wiesenthal Center