Albany Middle School is an urban campus for 750 students that is located on a moderately sloped, four acre urban site, surrounded on two sides by single-family residences and an apartment building and adjoined by the high school’s football field on the north and BART tracks on the west. Its design was developed over several months in a series of meetings with administrators, faculty members, and members of the community. The residential character of the school's design responds to the neighborhood's desire to minimize the scale of the school building and to blend the structures with the context of the adjoining properties.