EDfacility Tours

Architect: Huckabee

Martinez Early Learning Center is the inaugural pre-kindergarten campus for Alief ISD. The design takes the form of a village with winding pathways and neighborhoods that house immersive learning experiences to help build literacy and numeracy skills. Curated classroom experiences reflect themes that engage young learners, from space, oceans and farmland to dinosaurs, construction, and cultures around the world.

Architect: Stantec

Located on a 23-acre site, sits the 2-story, approximately 164,490 square foot James Reese CTC. As a prominent feature at this location, the center exhibits the aspirations of the district to provide the highest quality career and technical education while acting as a community center for the educational and social needs of the communities within Fort Bend ISD. The centralized CTE facility serves High School students through various programs and is designed to respond to programmatic changes based on industry needs and student interests. The five enterprise locations were designed to provide retail services to the community and generate revenue and are located along the building façades which promote public access along the street frontages of University Boulevard and Chatham Avenue.

Architect: cre8 Architects

Carpenter Elementary School serves 980 K-5 students, with a curriculum emphasizing science, technology, and robotics. Its design, inspired by a starship theme, matches its educational focus, featuring way-finding graphics for easy student navigation and a two-story layout to maximize natural light and outdoor space. The school is organized into color-coded pods, each outfitted with areas for collaboration and flexible learning. The design also includes versatile classrooms, adaptable furniture, and two distinct learning courtyards: one dedicated to Texas history and the other designed to resemble the solar system, creating an immersive and interactive educational environment. Furthermore, the school highlights its focus on robotics and technology through educational branding and graphics throughout the facility. For safety, it is equipped with impact-resistant glass in the entrance lobby and lockable pods for each grade level, ensuring a secure environment for all students.

Architect: PBK

Originally built in 1930, Goose Creek CISD’s San Jacinto Elementary School is a fixture in the community with a historic longevity of more than ninety years. It has been rebuilt four times, the most recent of which was completed in 2021. When the district began design on the newest facility the vision was to keep its location as close as possible to the original site and to retain and pay homage to the historical significance of the original building. Aptly named for the Battle of San Jacinto the school’s front entry was designed to replicate the facade of the Alamo in San Antonio, an icon in the community of Goose Creek CISD that was historically used for its elementary schools. Also important to the districts vision was keeping the school as efficient as possible regarding its floor plan and integrating the community’s unique identity throughout the building. Efficiency was accomplished using the prototype elementary school floor plan that has been replicated seven times across the district, while culture was integrated into the design through graphics and color throughout the campus’ interiors. Unique to this prototype was the addition of an Early Learning Academy that is housed in a separate wing of the building. The Academy houses 13 experiential learning classrooms, a large multiuse shared space serving as cafeteria, play area, and group learning, as well as various support offices. The remainder of the campus houses 24 classrooms for grades K-5, break out spaces for large group learning, a Central Library, Gym, Cafetorium, Music, Science & Art classrooms.

Architect: VLK Architects

Energy Institute High School is the newest magnet school in the Houston Independent School District and the first “energy” school in the Nation. Project based learning (PBL) is utilized in the pathways of the geo sciences, alternative energy, and offshore technology for this 800-student campus. Working with the community-based Project Advisory Team (PAT) which includes energy sector businesses, VLK Architects and Houston ISD organized a design charrette to establish the goals, priorities, and initial design concept for the project. The resulting concept features a campus like setting, mimicking many of the corporate campuses where energy students visit and intern during their high school education. PBL is supported through a variety of spaces including small classrooms, project rooms, and various collaboration spaces. An outdoor courtyard is the center of the campus with a shaded tiered collaboration area and outdoor instructional spaces. The design supports a technology rich Campus that is part of the PowerUp 1:1 initiative and all instructional spaces are equipped with smart interactive monitors.

Architect:

Awty International School offers the largest International and French Baccalaureate K-12 program in the country. The school’s new Student Center dramatically reshapes the existing campus which serves 1500 students in grades 2-12. A new large, central courtyard embraces the structures, which join myriad learning environments, including — dining spaces, library/media areas, STEM labs and a maker studio. New academic classrooms, flexible collaboration areas and faculty support spaces complete the dynamic composition.  These varied functions also catalyze outdoor learning, community gathering and adjacent athletic spaces amidst verdant rain gardens, rainwater cisterns, hydroponic containers, and shady porches. The Net-Zero Energy ready campus will also model sustainable practices in stormwater management, food cycling, and onsite energy generation.