Austin ISD - Lamar Middle School

Austin, Texas

The design for Lamar Middle School included a complete campus renovation and code and accessibility upgrades. Additions included a Fine Arts and Life Skills complex, athletic locker areas, classrooms, library expansion, new mechanical system and physical plant. The Fine Arts complex was designed to form a new gateway into the campus from a major road and bus drop-off opposite and up the hill from the original campus entry. Because the site slopes dramatically from the new entrance, parents complained that the public image of the campus was formed by the low slope gravel roofs of the original wings below. The parents requested that the fine arts addition create a stronger presence at the new entrance.

The new band rehearsal spaces and fine arts studios were divided into two buildings, set on either side of the path that descends to the campus from the bus drop-off. Large numbers of students pass through this space to a newly formed exterior courtyard. The change in elevation was transformed into a kinetic and irregular passage, facilitating student interaction and creative play. This passage and the connected courtyard are now the primary gathering areas for students at lunch and before classes.

Services

Architecture