10/08/2026
It's Throwback Thursday and we're revisiting Alliance Morgan McKinzie High School and College-Ready Middle Academy 8. Berliner Architects designed two charter schools for construction on a tight, urban lot in East Los Angeles. Totaling 54,000 sq ft, the new schools opened in 2013 and 2016.
When designing the First Street Campus, our focus was to revitalize a historic site which had been home to First Street Store, a local institution which had closed after 80 years in business. The Store had featured a series of 17 tile murals by artist Johnny D. Gonzalez called "The Story of Our Struggle" depicting Chicano history from pre-Columbian times to the present.
Berliner Architects' design allowed for reinstallation of the murals and mirrored the arched shape throughout the architecture of the buildings. The two-story schools with exterior balconies ring a large courtyard. Through scale, mass, material, and fenestration, the project reinforces and enhances the existing street, while establishing a courtyard oasis for the students, removed from the noise, heat, and distractions of the street.
The multipurpose room is a signature feature, with large folding doors allowing student events and community gatherings to spill out into the courtyard, protected by a cantilevered roof 30 feet above.
Alliance Morgan McKinzie HS & Middle Academy 8 won an AIA California Council Merit Award in 2019 and is one of the few charter schools to have won a Coalition for Adequate School Housing (CASH) award.
