(San Francisco, Aug. 6, 2026) – San Francisco Unified School District, in collaboration with project partners DLR Group and McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., celebrated the ribbon cutting and grand opening of Mission Bay School on August 6. The new school is a four-story, 82,000-SF campus designed to serve as a dynamic center for learning and community life.

Located on a 2.5-acre urban site, the campus will serve 550 students from grades Pre-K–5. The school also includes dedicated spaces for educator professional development and a Linked Learning Hub focused on biotechnology, allied health, and STEM pathways for high school students. The campus was intentionally created to support students across every stage of learning while serving as a long-term resource for SFUSD.

A strategic, research-based design grounds the school’s framework, with interconnected classrooms, breakout spaces, and outdoor learning environments that support flexibility, collaboration, and student agency. Early learning spaces connect directly to outdoor play and nature-based learning areas, while the school organizes upper grade levels into learning communities that encourage interdisciplinary education, supporting a Universal Design for Learning approach. The campus also incorporates dedicated collaboration areas and flexible learning environments that encourage student interaction, reflecting evolving approaches to student engagement and well-being.

Bringing that vision to life through a collaborative design-build partnership, SFUSD, DLR Group and McCarthy worked together to deliver a high-performing campus built to serve students, educators and families.

As a reflection of its community, Mission Bay School uses exterior colors, mosaics, and murals to celebrate its ecological setting. Harumo Sato’s mural, Zawa Zawa Buzz Buzz, highlights the area’s natural character. Inside, graphic wall murals extend this story and strengthen the connection between the outdoors and the school’s learning environments.

Sustainability strategies including all-electric systems, daylighting, photovoltaic panels, and passive design support the district’s energy performance goals and create a high-achieving learning environment that performs at twice the energy of the district’s standards. The campus was also designed with long-term operational efficiency and future-ready learning in mind, helping support the district’s sustainability goals for years to come.