In Austin, the Rosedale School has opened for students with special needs aged 3 to 22. The new facility features sensory rooms, fully accessible playgrounds and gardens, community meeting spaces, and an on-site clinic. The school serves 100 learners with special needs from across Austin Independent School District (ISD).
Replacing the original Rosedale Elementary School, which was created in 1988, the new Rosedale School has been organized into learning areas serving specific populations of students: medically fragile, social and behavioral disorders, and transition to life in the community. The design of each area, or neighborhood, takes inspiration from the natural environment—such as the colors and patterns of vegetation, the movement of water, and the shapes of wildlife. These areas, as well as shared community spaces, are connected via a central hub that’s referred to as the living room.
To provide comprehensive assistance for students with diverse physical needs, the school features patient lifts inside the classrooms. These lifts help teachers safely and efficiently move students who need additional physical assistance, and they ensure that every child can participate fully in educational activities.
Throughout the campus, murals of iconic Austin landmarks such as Barton Springs, food truck parks, and Lady Bird Lake connect the school with the larger community. The school’s park remains open to the public after hours.
In partnership with the healthcare center Ascension Seton, the school also has an on-site pediatric clinic that serves both Rosedale students and the larger community. Austin ISD hopes the combination of a school and clinic serving individuals with medical and behavioral needs will serve as a model across the country.
On the Building Team:
Owner: Austin ISD (clinic owned by Dell Children’s Medical Center, part of Ascension Medical Group)
Architect and interior designer: Page Southerland Page
Landscape designer: Asakura Robinson Company
Civil engineer: Garza EMC
Structural engineer: Datum Rios
MEP engineer: CNG Engineering
General contractor: Rogers-O’Brien Construction
Related Stories
| Jul 22, 2013
Top K-12 School Sector Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Gilbane, Balfour Beatty, Turner top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest K-12 school sector contractors and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Jul 22, 2013
Top K-12 School Sector Engineering Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
AECOM, URS, STV top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest K-12 school sector engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
| Jul 22, 2013
Top K-12 School Sector Architecture Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
DLR, SHW top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest K-12 school sector architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Jul 19, 2013
Reconstruction Sector Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Structure Tone, DPR, Gilbane top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest reconstruction contractor and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Jul 19, 2013
Renovation, adaptive reuse stay strong, providing fertile ground for growth [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Increasingly, owners recognize that existing buildings represent a considerable resource in embodied energy, which can often be leveraged for lower front-end costs and a faster turnaround than new construction.
| Jul 19, 2013
Best in brick: 7 stunning building façades made with brick [slideshow]
The Brick Industry Association named the winners of its 2013 Brick in Architecture Awards. Here are seven winning projects that caught our eye.
| Jul 2, 2013
LEED v4 gets green light, will launch this fall
The U.S. Green Building Council membership has voted to adopt LEED v4, the next update to the world’s premier green building rating system.
| Jul 1, 2013
Report: Global construction market to reach $15 trillion by 2025
A new report released today forecasts the volume of construction output will grow by more than 70% to $15 trillion worldwide by 2025.
| Jun 28, 2013
Building owners cite BIM/VDC as 'most exciting trend' in facilities management, says Mortenson report
A recent survey of more than 60 building owners and facility management professionals by Mortenson Construction shows that BIM/VDC is top of mind among owner professionals.
| Jun 17, 2013
DOE launches database on energy performance of 60,000 buildings
The Energy Department today launched a new Buildings Performance Database, the largest free, publicly available database of residential and commercial building energy performance information.
