IRVINE : Students to Find Expanded Facilities

When students return to University High School this fall, they will be greeted by an expanded gym, a state-of-the-art theater and a new science building.

Work has continued throughout the summer to complete the $8-million construction project before classes begin on Sept. 9.

District officials said they will make the deadline, though some minor “finishing touches” might be done after the first day of school.

The project is one of the largest campus additions undertaken by the Irvine Unified School District and follows other expansion projects at Woodbridge and Irvine high schools completed over the last few years, said Lloyd Linton, a district building coordinator.

The University High expansion is designed to better accommodate the school’s roughly 2,000 students--more students than the original campus was meant to serve, said Corinne Loskot, the district’s coordinator for facility planning.

Planning for the project began in the mid-1980s, when school enrollment was rising.

In recent years, as development in the villages next to UC Irvine slowed, enrollment growth also slowed.

But Loskot said the expansion is necessary to provide students with better science, art and athletic facilities.

A centerpiece of the project is the new 368-seat theater, which boasts a full stage and orchestra pit as well as a mechanical lift that allows disabled people to get onto the stage, Linton said.

The 12,000-square-foot theater was built on what was once a lawn area. The exterior is marked by imposing brick columns and a round entryway. It will supplement the current theater, which is across campus.

The gym has tripled in size to 35,000 square feet--enough room for four basketball courts. It includes an upstairs mezzanine complete with a weightlifting area.

Also included is a separate downstairs weight room for disabled people and a dance studio.

The new science building includes four general science classrooms as well as two chemistry labs and two physics labs.

“It was a tough project because (building was done) right in the heart of the existing campus,” Linton said.

“It’s not like we were adding something on the outskirts of the campus.”

More Student Bodies Enrollment at Irvine’s University High School is projected to continue increasing for the next two years. ‘95*: 2,147 * Projected Source: Irvine Unified School District