In 2010, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) held a design competition for a flexible solution to replace portable buildings across the district, and HMC Architects accepted the challenge. The district asked us to ignore their standards and put an emphasis on an ideas-based approach. They wanted creative, progressive responses to their problem—not dressed-up modular buildings. We challenged the traditional box shape of the classroom by looking at how the room is used—and how it is currently under utilized. Although our design solution, which we named Flex, did not win the competition, our end product is a portable classroom solution that can used at any school, and we hope our design can inspire other school districts to think differently when it comes to portable classrooms.