Mueller is a 700-acre master-planned community located three miles from Austin, Texas, on what had been the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport that dated back to the late 1920s.
A public-private partnership between the City of Austin’s Economic Development Department and Catellus Development Corporation, Mueller, upon its build out within the next decade, will encompass at least 6,900 homes and apartments, a 42-acre mixed-use town center known as Aldrich Street, 5.5 million sf of commercial space, 750,000 sf of retail space, a medical center, film studio, children’s museum, an 83,000-sf grocery store, and 140 acres of parks and open spaces.
In support of this “new urbanist” environment, the Austin Independent School District—which already owns a performing arts center that opened within Mueller in early 2015—last August started construction on a 130,000-sf Middle School on 10 acres along the northeast section of the city and Mueller, that will double as a hub that links the school to this community’s neighborhoods. The middle school, with an 800-student capacity for 6th through 8th graders, is expected to be ready to accept students and teachers in August 2023.
The new middle school “will contribute to the fabric of the community,” predicts Kate Mraw, ALEP, RID, LEED AP BD+C, principal and design director for LPA, the architect on this project. The school will connect to Mueller’s bike and hiking trails, and offer a park and other public spaces on its premises. And because it will draw students from beyond the immediate neighborhood, it will bring greater diversity into the community.
A QUICKER WAY TO BUILD SCHOOLS
LPA and Coleman Landscape Architects are working with Joeris General Contractors, which the Austin ISD hired to spearhead this design-build project.
Burton Hackney, Vice President of Central Texas for Joeris General Contractors, tells BD+C that while the design-build delivery method is still the exception for building schools in the Lone Star State, “after the bond passed, [the district] needed a way to get some schools up quickly.” The Mueller project is one of 19 new constructions and modernizations that the Austin ISD is engaged in, funded by a $1 billion bond that voters passed in late 2017.
Hackney, an Austin native, says the airport redevelopment has long been thought of locally as “sacred space.” At one time, a new elementary school was on the table. But, he recalls, the district’s circumstances changed: at the time the bond was floated, more than 1,000 middle school students had been leaving the region from nearby charter schools, according to the ISD’s Facility Master Plan.
This is Joeris’ second design-build project for the district. Hackney says his firm’s culture “aligns” with that delivery method because it emphasizes lean principles. “We didn’t have to go through the value-engineering process because the GC was involved in all the meetings right from the start,” confirms Mraw.
DEMOCRATIC DESIGN
![Interior of the Austin ISD Middle School at Mueller.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Austin%20ISD%203.jpg)
The Building Team is pretty much working from the ISD’s design documents. But the design process also included “a diverse stakeholder group that was heard from,” says Hackney. Catellus had a representative on the architecture team. And Mueller “was very specific about what it wanted,” he states.
During the design phase for the middle school, there were 16 architectural team meetings, four community meetings, and seven neighborhood meetings. The Austin ISD initiated those early talks, which Mraw says focused on “hopes, goals, and dreams,” as well as the importance of sustainability.
Mueller was the first neighborhood in Texas to earn LEED for Neighborhood Development Stage 3 Gold Certification. All the roofs of the Austin ISD Middle School will be solar ready. Durable and environmentally friendly materials are being used throughout, and 100 percent recycled water will irrigate the site’s vegetation. The school’s design—which takes into account its orientation to the sun—is expected to reduce energy use by 32 percent from a baseline standard.
The school design also pays homage to the original Mueller airport with a large, wing-shaped roof, a gymnasium that resembles an aircraft hangar, and runway-inspired wayfinding graphics throughout the campus.
A NOD TO THE PAST
![The school's exterior cladding matches that of the airport's tower.](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Austin%20ISD%201.jpg)
Hackney says there was budgetary discussion, during the design phase, about what kinds of materials to use for the school’s exterior skin to resemble the Art Deco-like pattern of the eight-story airport tower, which is still standing. (The tower’s dark and light blue panels were restored several years ago.) The agreed-upon material is an integral-colored fiber cement panel made by the manufacturer TAKTL.
According to LPA, other exterior building materials are being used, too, including brick masonry veneer, a perforated and corrugated white metal screen, and anodized aluminum for the metal soffit and roof fascia panels.
The school’s roof and stacking also went through some changes to address budgetary concerns. The project’s total cost is $53.2 million, of which $45.5 million is for construction.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
High-density planning allows abundant open space
Gilroy Unified School District's new Christopher High School in California opened its first phase this fall. The 1,800-student, 231,000-sf facility was designed with a high-density site plan that allows for both on-site sports fields and undeveloped open space. BCA Architects of Fremont, Calif., with Gilbane Building Companies as CM, collaborated with numerous user groups to plan the two-story,...
| Aug 11, 2010
And the world's tallest building is…
At more than 2,600 feet high, the Burj Dubai (right) can still lay claim to the title of world's tallest building—although like all other super-tall buildings, its exact height will have to be recalculated now that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced a change to its height criteria.
| Aug 11, 2010
Courtyard connects new and remodeled schools
Good Fulton & Farrell Architects of Dallas designed a major expansion and renovation at the Dallas Academy in Texas. The 22,900-sf addition serves as the school’s new front door and includes a library, student assembly area, cafeteria, seven classrooms, and administrative offices. The school’s existing 14,560-sf building was renovated to accommodate a lower school component, and...
| Aug 11, 2010
Connecticut high school gets a expansion and renovation
The Morganti Group, Danbury, Conn., is managing the construction of a $41 million addition and renovation project at Newtown (Conn.) High School. Designed by Fletcher Thompson, Shelton, Conn., the project consists of a 70,000-sf addition and 30,000 sf of renovations to the gymnasium and interior spaces.
| Aug 11, 2010
School district plans net-zero building
Camas (Wash.) School District is planning to utilize one of three energy sources—photovoltaics, wind turbine, or geothermal—to help take its new community high school completely off the grid. The school district commissioned Interface Engineering to explore all three options for the project, which is scheduled to break ground in August.
| Aug 11, 2010
LA high school takes design cue from historic Mexican architecture
The Los Angeles Unified School District recently opened the $75 million Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez Learning Center, a high school in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights, near Little Tokyo. Designed by Nadel Architects in a joint venture with Barrio Planners Inc., the 114,000-sf school is vertically integrated, allowing the campus to fit on a compact, six-acre site.
| Aug 11, 2010
Nursing home turned charter school opens in Dorchester, Mass.
Cambridge, Mass.-based HMFH Architects spearheaded the design for the conversion of a former nursing home in Dorchester, Mass., to learning and community space for the Neighborhood House Charter School. The pre-K—8 school has two classrooms for each elementary grade level, clusters of middle school classrooms, a cafeteria, media center, and art, computer, music and science classrooms.
| Aug 11, 2010
Modest recession for education construction
Construction spending for education expanded modestly but steadily through March, while at the same time growth for other institutional construction had stalled earlier in 2009. Education spending is now at or near the peak for this building cycle. The value of education starts is off 9% year-to-date compared to 2008.
| Aug 11, 2010
Las Vegas high school focuses on careers in justice, emergency response
McCarthy Building Cos., St. Louis, recently completed construction on the 130,700-sf Veterans Tribute Career & Technical Academy, a Las Vegas high school that focuses on service career pathways in 911 dispatch training, law enforcement, crime scene analysis, emergency medical training, and computer forensics.
| Aug 11, 2010
Three Schools checking into L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel site
Pasadena-based Gonzalez Goodale Architects is designing three new schools for Los Angeles Unified School District's Central Wilshire District. The $400 million campus, located on the site of the former Ambassador Hotel, will house a K-5 elementary school, a middle school, a high school, a shared recreation facility (including soccer field, 25-meter swimming pool, two gymnasiums), and a new publ...