Rancho Bernardo High School & Bernardo Heights Middle School

Poway Unified School District

Completion: 1974 & 1989

With a design that incorporates both beauty and efficiency, Rancho Bernardo High School was built with two primary goals: to accommodate its community’s educational needs for today, and to do so with an eye toward future growth. Based on educational programming involving key faculty and administrative personnel, the facility was designed as a highly organized school of spacious classroom. Rancho Bernardo High School is part of the largest school project in California history: an 82-acre two-school campus that ultimately accommodated 3,000 high school students and 1,500 middle school students at Bernardo Heights Middle School. The high school comprises activity and athletic core areas, as well as an academic area with room for futuer expansion. Depressed below grade, a 3,000-seat stadium preserves the campus’s mountain view, while shielding nearby residents from light and noise. Roofs of white tile complement the architecture of surrounding neighborhoods. A thermal energy storage system, located behind the 400-seat, college-level theater, provides energy efficiency by producing ice at night to cool the campus during the day. Through creative and far-sighted planning, the primary goals of Rancho Bernardo High School have been met in a dramatic fashion.

Rancho Bernardo High School • Rancho Bernardo Science Court