American Constructors

Owner:

The Girls' School of Austin

Architect:

Haddon + Cowan Architects Collaborative

Scope Of Work

The new campus for The Girls’ School of Austin was built to accommodate the necessary facility upgrades and growing needs of the school. Founded in 2002, The Girls’ School of Austin is the city’s first-all-girl institute and serves 134 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The decades-old campus, formerly an elementary school used by Austin ISD, had a cracked foundation, shifting walls, and overflowing classrooms. American Constructors performed a complete demolition of the existing campus and construction of the new 12,500-square-foot campus, which is comprised of five buildings. A two-story building forms the northern perimeter of the campus and houses administrative offices as well as the art and music classrooms downstairs and middle school and science classrooms upstairs. The adjacent multi-use building fills the much-needed function of communal gathering space for weekly school meetings, a gym for inclement weather, and space for performances and events. Its large doors open onto a deep north-facing porch, creating a seamless indoor-outdoor connection and providing additional protected space.

Two classroom buildings provide pairs of classrooms for K-5 students, each with their own restroom facilities, storage, and dedicated outdoor teaching space. Teachers enjoy more storage space and teaching walls, and each classroom has a dedicated reading nook in lieu of a central library. Classrooms for older girls allow for spaces that the students can decorate themselves, establishing a greater sense of ownership over their environment.

The open campus provides students with outdoor space, including multiple gardens and play areas throughout the site. Students eat outdoors, and the landscape is used for physical education as well as classroom teaching and recreation.