Alameda replaces aging Wood Middle School with modernized campus
Project Profile
- New construction: 48,000 square feet
- Replaced: Original three-story classroom building constructed in 1965 and temporary facilities
- Academic spaces: 24 classrooms and four new science classrooms with enhanced safety and flexible power infrastructure
- Structural work: 411 concrete piles extending 80 feet into bay mud fill for seismic stability
- Site improvements: New pickup/drop-off road, more than 70 parking spaces, courtyards, outdoor seating, shade, landscaping, and improved pedestrian/bicycle coordination
- Sustainability: 176-panel solar PV canopy, bioswales, and bioretention stormwater systems
- Funding: Measure B, a $298 million facilities bond approved by voters in 2022
- Schedule: 24 months
- Design: Quattrocchi Kwok Architects
- Construction: Lathrop Construction Associates
Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) has completed a major redevelopment of Wood Middle School in Alameda, California, replacing its aging 1965 classroom building and temporary facilities with a new campus designed around modern learning, safety, and long-term facility performance with accessibility upgrades throughout.
The district chose reconstruction after a 2014 facilities master plan found that the original three-story building’s interior walls, floors, ceilings, lighting, and mechanical systems had reached the end of their service life, according to an official AUSD announcement. The assessment also identified exposed wiring, deteriorated asphalt, and undersized media center and gymnasium spaces. Because the existing structure constrained design options, a district design committee recommended rebuilding rather than renovating it in place.
The resulting project, designed by Quattrocchi Kwok Architects with Lathrop Construction Associates serving as contractor, includes 48,000 square feet of new construction that entails a new two-story academic building with 24 classrooms, a new gymnasium with an attached physical education classroom, as well as new administration and media spaces for students and staff.