K-12 Education

At the heart of the school sits a giant redbud tree with branches connecting to all three wings. The concept for the school was inspired by biophilic design that simulates elements from nature and connects the students to the natural world. The new Redbud Elementary School is filled with sensory experiences in a fun, colorful and exciting learning environment for the Round Rock Community. The school incorporates six learning communities, each with their own teacher planning rooms, small group rooms and collaboration areas.

The new two-story elementary school holds a capacity of 900 people providing the students and Round Rock community with a state of the art 21^st century environment. Learning Neighborhoods house studios for all grade levels along with collaboration areas, small group rooms, a Professional Learning Center, makerspace, as well as classrooms for visual arts and music, a gymnasium, dining commons, and a community room. Administrative offices are located on the first floor adjacent to the media center.

Redbud Elementary School is the first school in the State of Texas with features specifically designed to respond to the challenges COVID-19 presents to a school environment.

Located on the east side of Austin and surrounded by single-story homes, the new 80,800 square-foot elementary school is the result of a transparent community-based planning effort spanning two years with the Austin ISD and Govalle community. The result is a community driven school serving 522 students and one that represents its neighborhood, engages its community, and embraces its history and diverse population of learners. The new school was built as replacement for the existing building that did not meet the basic needs of the district’s educational requirements. Sustainability, collaboration, creativity, cultural proficiency, community and outdoor connections were the driving factors in the design.

The school directly engages with its neighbors both tectonically and volumetrically. The elevations are broken down into constituent, relatable components that enable the building’s mass to sit comfortably next to the adjacent homes. Since opening in the spring of 2020, the school has become a source of civic pride and a valued community resource. Parents, students, teachers, and administrators have expressed their delight in being part of the design process and their ability to live and learn in the new school.

Sustainability is a driving force behind the school’s mission to provide a high quality and comprehensive education experience that challenges and inspires students to make a positive contribution to our world. The sustainable features of the school include a water collection system, vegetable and butterfly gardens, rain gardens throughout the site, and other energy saving features. These features serve as a teaching tool for the students and celebrate the community’s long history of respecting the environment. Through careful planning with the school and community, innovative graphics representing specific values of the community were created throughout the school providing an inspiring learning environment for the students. The existing trees were an important and unique feature celebrating the site, which required careful planning and an innovative approach to the site and building configuration. As a result, many of the trees on site were saved providing shade throughout the campus and opportunities for children to learn outside.

The school offers limitless opportunities for collaboration, flexibility and hands-on learning. The site and building set an example of conversation and stewardship. The design mirrors the modern and flexible environment we live in today, where both collaborative and individual opportunity spaces are the key to success. The school is a tool that can be customized to accommodate different teaching approaches and induvial learners’ preferences. The moveable walls, flexible-collaborative furniture and multi-use spaces allows the school to transform collaboration areas for many uses over the years to come. 

Classrooms and labs mirror real work environments, giving students the ability to form career expectations in high school. Students that pass classes their classes at the Center acquire certifications and licenses needed in their professions.

The details of the Center make it a revolutionary learning space. For example, the electrochromic glass in the upper windows facing the east, west and the entrance is connected to a weather monitoring device. It is able to tint or lighten based on the weather, time of day, and the overall position of the sun. Glass walls create transparency for students to see into other classes.

A highlight of the Center is the Interactive Observation Lab (IOL), also known as the Asymmetric Cone This is primarily a surgical amphitheater where students sit in the balcony and observe medical procedures taking place in the center of the cone. Moveable glass partitions make it easy to accommodate automotive and welding classes so teachers can wheel in large pieces of equipment while students watch from above. The IOL can be used for instructional purpose by any of the 10 different program fields that the Center offers.

The Center gives Alief ISD students an innovative, purposefully designed space, which cultivates and trains their passions towards a successful career path.

The Junior High School’s significant outdoor feature includes a large common greenspace between the neighboring Paetow High School for student use. The Learning Green Space is intended to provide a walking path, outdoor learning gardens, and a teaching amphitheater. Several of the learning areas such as the learning commons and dining commons have views of the green space.

A main student circulation spine flanks The Green Space and represents an improvement from existing multi-campus sites, which are often separated by parking and driveways. The spine links the 9th Grade Center on the first floor to the learning commons, dining commons, fine arts, and athletics. The center provides stand-alone academic instructional and administration spaces for 9th grade students. The 10th,11th, and 12th grade classrooms are located on the westside of the first floor, while remaining science classrooms are shared with the third floor.

To effectively accomplish the lofty objectives of the Strategic Design Initiative, the district engaged the community. They hosted community summits to start the conversation, followed by focus groups of students, parents, community members and district staff to expand on ideas and challenge old paradigms. Additionally, they published an online survey to gather additional community feedback, as they wanted the process to be transparent and inclusive. The process engaged more than 5,000 stakeholders and took nine months to complete.

PBK and the LISD Design Team masterminded a learning environment that enables a learning organization’s core disciplines of personal mastery, shared vision and team learning to thrive. By creating small learning communities within the school to support and nurture individual academic strengths, the design enables students to capitalize on self-sustaining growth. Within each community or learning organization, learners tackle individual learning activities as part of a team, which promotes mastery. In addition, the design capitalizes on the concept of lifelong learning by promoting opportunities for this to occur at all levels throughout the campus – for students, teachers, administrators, and parents. These spaces assume a variety of forms and shapes – from the large learning hub where many convene to learn and work together, to quiet areas (like the nook above the library) where opportunities to immerse oneself in learning is more private and personal.

Students learn through a variety of instructional programs, but the two most significant pedagogies are project-based learning and blended learning. During the strategic design process, students were asked “How do you like to learn?” From the answers received (and based on the parallel work of the strategic design team), the district decided that an active learning model supported by team activities would be the best form of curriculum delivery for students. Project-based learning accommodates this method, as well as supplying students with a relevant skillset to succeed in today’s society. To further support this, the district launched it’s 1:X initiative to provide students with a personalized learning experience. 1:X is a transformative installation of a flexible learning environment that gives students tools to access, create, share and collaborate as digital citizens.

The new High School will include innovative, adaptable, programmatic elements that support the process of learning. Facilities will accommodate the needs of 21st-Century students with collaborative learning experiences supported with flexible and innovative spaces for today and for the future.