The coastal community of Pacifica set out on an ambitious course to improve their seven campuses and actively participated in a QKA lead master planning process that took their schools into a $65 million six-year project. Among other recommendations, the plan established the need to demolish an existing campus - suffering the maladies of the coast - and construct a new campus: the Ingrid B Lacy Middle School.

The special social and academic needs of a middle school are addressed by organizing the classrooms and science labs into three independent clusters around a central courtyard. This supports the school's educational program by reducing the scale of the campus into three 250-student clusters.

The central courtyard connects the three clusters together. The large gathering spaces of the Library/ Media Center, Gymnasium and Multi-Use anchor the three corners of the courtyard.