This 2-storey, 33,500 SF steel community center and high school is a state-of-the-art facility, featuring classroom spaces, a gymnasium, open program areas, community meeting rooms, administrative offices, and below grade parking. A large open-walled central hall doubles as a cafeteria and worship space, as well as a social gathering area for students. Combining traditional with high-tech, KDHS is the largest Jewish high school west of Winnipeg.
The facility originally opened in September 1987 as the Maimonides Secondary School, housing three classrooms on the upper King David High School floor of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue. A growing enrollment saw the need for a new facility to accommodate and support a larger student body. With the support of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and spearheaded by the Diamond Foundation, the facility was completed in September 2005.
The architectural design was a challenging mix of steel, cast-in-place concrete, glulam columns and beams, with exposed timber elements. Glotman•Simpson elegantly engineered the connections between the various elements that were required to achieve the desired architectural effect.