Planning

This innovative facility solved community needs and enrollment growth while looking to the horizon for determining future student interests and skills. A total shift in culture occurred with an explosion of STEAM interest across the district. Inspired by industries and growing career needs, the facility serves high school students and provides studios for K-8th grade experiential learning. The rich site provides trails, wetland zone, and natural creek, all expected daily learning environments.

This 98,500 SF elementary school for 880 students was built while the existing school remained operational. The grassland site is on the edge of the Hill Country in a growing area of South Austin. The design evolved through an extensive process that engaged teachers, parents, students, and neighbors. Through this process the design focused on preserving the natural beauty on campus to maximize a connection with nature while reimagining the urban learning experience.

As the District’s first all-new Middle School in approximately 30 years, a 21st century vision for the new campus focused on a flexible, project-based learning model that included an increased importance on Performing Arts and CTE pathways. In the heart of one of the nation’s fastest growing districts, the new campus serves an expanding community that’s embracing its transformation from a historic rural area to a destination district.

Formerly an elementary school, this school of choice was strategically retrofitted into a high-tech school that responds to the facility’s new mission. The revitalized campus showcases a sleek, collegiate-like personality, appealing to 16 to 21-year-olds who seek to catch up on graduation credits or graduate in less than four years. The new program concentrates on active student engagement, functionality and community. The school offers CTE classes equipped with state-of-the-art technologies.

The new addition blends with the 2012 addition and takes architectural cues from and remains sensitive to the historic original structure. The three-story classroom addition provides 24 teaching spaces, a new competition Gym with 1,500 seat capacity, competition court, two practice courts and support locker rooms for Athletics. In addition, Art and Ceramics studios, a new Band Hall, and Engineering and Robotics labs were significant upgrades to support STEAM focused learning.

This project is a new 37,500 square-foot Performing Arts Center for East Central ISD outside of San Antonio. The central space is a state of the art 1,000-seat multi-purpose auditorium, with teaching and production space to support choir, music recording and theater programs. It also includes a 3,500-square-foot “white box,” a separate, long-span daylit performance and teaching space; the first of its kind in a K-12 environment.

Located on a 23-acre site within a suburban master planned community, the James Reese Career and Technical Center (CTC) is a two-story, 164,490 SF facility serving daily approximately 1,000 students from across FBISD. The new CTC provides classrooms, labs, and collaboration space to support multiple specialized career and technical programs and engage students of all ages across the district. The CTC houses 5 enterprise programs that offer services to the public both during and after hours.

A kinetic and collaborative culture was retrofitted into a 1980s middle school by molding fragmented space into a dynamic and cohesive learning environment. The character of the split-level design endured, elevated by a new 2-story commons that anchors the campus and creates a multipurpose student union. Removal of walls, addition of gathering space and use of teacher design labs create flexibility. Windows and interior glazing connect to nature and filter light through a previously dense space.

Located in a school district with traditional pedagogy, MAPS augments core classes to pose students with challenges larger than the classroom. In an already high achieving school district, this combination of project-based learning, multi-disciplinary collaboration, and professional engagement gives students a post-secondary advantage. MAPS serves as an incubator for leadership, entrepreneurial skills, and brings together students and business leaders in the community whose aspirations align.

Northside High School, formerly known as Jefferson Davis High School, was built in 1926. IBI Group was tasked with designing the 265,283 SF addition and renovations to the original campus while preserving the architecturally significant building structure for a school accommodating 1,500 students. Our scope of work called for a new Culinary Center, Performing Arts Center and a remodel of the building’s interior and MEP systems while preserving the historic architectural facade and auditorium.

The original high school, built in 1954, was initially small because of the low neighborhood density. As it grew over the years, each addition was designed to meet specific needs without considering the overall campus layout. This resulted in a lack of connectivity, long walks between multiple buildings, and several security issues. The vision for this 369,141 SF project includes a new comprehensive high school, which includes renovating and incorporating the recently constructed science wing.

A district wanted to re-imagine its elementary prototype. They began with a question: “What does the school of the future mean to you?” Together, nearly 200 students, educators and district leaders envisioned a school with no boundaries, where learning was always on display. Biophilic design elements, connection to the outdoors, flexible small and large learning spaces, grade-level neighborhoods and an iconic, treehouse-inspired commons create a unique and inspirational academic experience.

In 2018, Texas Instruments awarded a grant to create a “STEM for ALL” concept that instigated a symbiotic relationship between the school and the industry. With this support and with 2016 bond reserves the district converted an existing space into a STEM Exploration Center for for ALL students in the high school feeder pattern. This STEM center now enriches 12,000 students each year and provides professional development for teachers, so they develop competency and confidence in STEM teaching.

New intermediate school, grades 3-5, designed for maximum sustainability and to facilitate the District’s “4Cs” teaching methods. The school is subdivided into three equally-sized Small Learning Communities (SLCs), each with its own classrooms and breakout spaces on two floors. Students stay together in the same SLC all three years in this school. Each SLC overlooks the central two-story Commons and Media Center, and all can access covered outdoor learning areas on both first and second floors.