A new 75,000-sf Early Learning Campus, designed specifically for The Awty International School’s pre-K through first grade students, recently opened in Houston. Shepley Bulfinch’s design created the new campus from a vacant 30-year-old office park that sits on a 5.25-acre site.
The office park had three existing buildings in a U-shaped configuration that created a natural enclosed pocket for Shepley Bulfinch to focus the learning and enrichment facilities for the 345 pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade students. Two-thirds of the existing parking lot in this pocket was replaced with synthetic turf to create a 20,000-sf outdoor play space. The remaining third was left for use as a visitor parking lot. This green space features outdoor classrooms, flexible learning spaces, and a European-style plaza with benches and pavers. All but four of the campus’s 26 classrooms open up to this fenced green space.
The outdoor play and learning area has a bicycle/tricycle path winding around play structures and under bridges, two playgrounds, a small soccer field, and basketball and play courts. There are also student gardens and covered pavilions with wooden decks to help facilitate outdoor learning.
Â
​View from multipurpose room across Boulevard towards Building C Entry at the Awty International School in Houston. Photo: Shepley Bulfinch.
Â
In order to make the existing office buildings feel like a school environment for young children, the exterior glass, sign bands, and soffit panels were removed and the buildings were clad with vertical perforated multi-colored translucent resin panels. The outdoor classrooms use the same resin panels for roofing in a shingled pattern. Security fencing, check-in points, and separate entries and circulation for carpool drop-off, visitors, and faculty improve vehicular circulation and campus safety.
In addition to the 26 classrooms, there are also two multi-purpose rooms, art and music rooms, a teaching kitchen, a library, a media room, and dining facilities for students and faculty. A two-story gymnasium features a rock-climbing wall, multipurpose courts for basketball and volleyball, and a performance stage. The classrooms are linked via internal doors through all three buildings and large glass windows, skylights, and open spaces provide plentiful natural light.
J.E. Dunn Construction was the general contractor for the project while Cardno and Burns DeLatte & McCoy, Inc. handled structural engineering and MEP engineering duties respectively.
Related Stories
K-12 Schools | May 12, 2015
Bjarke Ingels completes Danish high school sports and arts expansion
By placing parts of the new building beneath the football fields, the students are able to walk through the sunken sports hall at the center of the school´s courtyard to the classrooms, cafeteria, and out to the main entrance at street level.Â
Sponsored | | May 11, 2015
Fire-rated glass separation helps merge new and old pools into a single connected aquatics center
Clear fire-rated glazing helps create a light-filled, safe space for student athletes and spectators in Niles, Illinois.
K-12 Schools | Apr 28, 2015
How to create an environment where students want to succeed
According to a 2014 Gallup poll, our school system not only kills children’s creativity, but also takes its toll on their motivation, writes Perkins+Will's Tinka Rogic.
K-12 Schools | Mar 22, 2015
Budget woes may lead to moratorium on school projects in Alaska
The bill would suspend 70% cost reimbursement from state to localities.
K-12 Schools | Mar 18, 2015
The new Vo-Tech: Transforming vocational workshops into 21st century learning labs
It’s no secret: the way students learn today is different. But facilities are adapting to the increasing demands of technology, collaborative learning, and project-based instruction.
Retail Centers | Mar 10, 2015
Retrofit projects give dying malls new purpose
Approximately one-third of the country’s 1,200 enclosed malls are dead or dying. The good news is that a sizable portion of that building stock is being repurposed.
K-12 Schools | Mar 2, 2015
BD+C special report: What it takes to build 21st-century schools
How the latest design, construction, and teaching concepts are being implemented in the next generation of America’s schools.
Codes and Standards | Mar 2, 2015
Nevada moves to suspend prevailing wage rules on school projects
The Nevada Senate approved a bill that would suspend prevailing wage rules on school projects.
K-12 Schools | Mar 1, 2015
Are energy management systems too complex for school facility staffs?
When school districts demand the latest and greatest, they need to think about how those choices will impact the district’s facilities employees.
K-12 Schools | Feb 26, 2015
Should your next school project include a safe room?
Many school districts continue to resist mandating the inclusion of safe rooms or storm shelters in new and existing buildings. But that may be changing.