40+ Years of Design
8 Primary Markets
Transit • Civic • Non-Profit • Aviation • Education • Housing • Commercial • Operations & Maintenance
Established in 1982 Architecture Driven by Community. HUB
DBE • MBE
METRO SBE
State & Municipal Certifications
TSA & AIA FIRM OF THE YEAR RDLR is Recognized as a 2023 Outstanding Diverse Organization by HBJ.
Founded in 1982, Rey de la Reza Architects, Inc. (RDLR) is recognized throughout Texas as a community-driven architectural firm providing design excellence and outstanding project management services in the Houston area.
With a 40-year history, the firm has been involved in the design of a variety of transit, commercial, educational, urban design, residential, and renovation projects and continues to provide exceptional service to public entities including: City of Houston, Fort Bend County, Houston Airport System, METRO, HCTRA, The Harris Center, numerous ISD’s, GSA, USPS and TxDOT. Our firm is certified MBE and Texas HUB.
RDLR believes in community driven architecture. Capital investments should respond to user needs as well as benefit the overall community. RDLR looks beyond project limits to seek opportunities to enhance the public realm and create places for communities. We believe that good design is not contingent upon the schedule or budget but rather the result of an inclusive design process that includes stakeholders, community leaders and design and construction professionals. Successful projects reflect
cultural influences and are contextually sensitive. They are sustainable developments which are cost effective to maintain and operate.
Strong design solutions are the result of a collaborative, interactive process led by the design team that involves all stakeholders including users, community residents, transit agencies and specialty consultants. We are well versed at techniques for generating ideas in various settings. Careful attention is given to achieving a balance between building, surroundings, landscape, and site-specific issues.
Through an inclusive process, we involve active participants, first in the programming sessions, and later in design workshops. This results in an accelerated design process, where concrete design ideas are generated respecting the programmatic and budgetary constraints. The process creates client/user consensus at an early stage in the project. Another benefit of this process is the creation of effective communications avenues among the participants.
40+ Design Awards
30+ Years in Education
70+ K-12 Projects
Design has the ability to transform the way our next generation of leaders are educated for a promising future. Tomorrow’s leaders need interpersonal and self-directed skills. We use design as the medium and technology as the means for building healthier relationships within learning communities. RDLR utilizes both indoor and outdoor spaces where informal learning can occur beyond the classroom.
Our firm also recognize that schools are integral to communities. They are hubs providing before and after class learning, health care, social support, athletic and cultural and events and even serving as voting polls. Schools are where neighborhood and family ties are made. Our designs find ways to engage the community through open use of shared facilities, cultural and historical references and physical links to neighborhoods.
HISD North Houston Early College High School
HISD Carnegie Vanguard High School
HISD John H Reagan High School
HISD/TSU Lab School
HISD Pugh Elementary Renovations
HISD Young Men’s Prep Renovations
HISD Project Chrysalis
HISD HP Carter Renovations
HISD High School for Law Enforcement Renovations
HISD Brookline Elementary School
HISD EO Smith Secondary School Renovations
HISD Stevenson Middle School
HISD Project Chrysalis
The Joy School
The Joy School Renovations
AAMA Charter School
SER Jobs for Progress Workforce Training
FBISD Barrington Elementary School Renovations
FBISD Wheeler Field House Roof Replacement
FBISD Elkins High School Roof Replacement
FBISD Lynn Armstrong Elementary School Renovations
FBISD Austin Parkway Elementary Renovations
FBISD Barrington Place Elementary School
FBISD Colony Meadows Elementary School
FBISD Edgar Glover Jr. Elementary School
LCISD Transportation and Data Center
LCISD Austin Elementary Renovations
LCISD Bess Campbell Elementary Renovations
LCISD Dickinson Elementary Renovations
LCISD Huggins Elementary Renovations
LCISD Pink Elementary Renovations
LCISD Williams Elementary Renovations
LCISD Navarro Middle School Renovations
LCISD Wessendorff Middle School Renovations
LCISD Frost Elementary School Renovations
LCISD Agriculture Barn Renovations
LCISD Central Warehouse & Foodservice Renovations
LCISD Lamar Consolidated High School Renovations
RDLR is an awardwinning Houston architectural firm with a history of successful education projects throughout greater Houston. RDLR focuses on creating inspired work that is realistic to implement technically, financially, and socially.
High performance academic spaces respond to a variety of learning styles and consider indoor environmental issues.
Today’s academic spaces accommodate flexible furniture arrangements, lighting, and teaching technologies. Healthy indoor environments with natural light, individual climate control, and high air quality are critical to successful learning spaces.
Learning also extends outside the classroom. Today’s X and Y generation, and tomorrow’s Z generation students are multi-task focused, interactive and flexible. Learning is based on multiple media technologies. Social networks, virtual learning, blogs and other internet based communication tools are profoundly affecting the way students learn. As a result our designs reflect informal learning spaces with social settings that promote group interactions.
We seek opportunities to create places for informal collaborative learning.
The new facility provides an interactive learning environment with varied spaces ranging from flexible classrooms, to outdoor classrooms, and common areas. Learning centers were arranged around a series of commons and niches providing much needed impromptu casual teaching/learning environments.
Houston, Texas
RDLR integrates master planning, architectural design and interior design to deliver a seamless solution.
Our experience as architects and educators has helped us develop the following guiding principles in the design of educational campuses and buildings.
Define Campus Edges: consider signage, vegetation, ring roads, and entry elements to define your campus. RDLR seeks opportunities to establish hierarchy, campus definition and enrichment to create a Sense of Place.
Promote Neighborhoods: consider linking academic and student life clusters with pedestrian connectors. Provide activity nodes within the connectors to promote student life and activity.
Design Places Not Spaces: Buildings are tools to create and define exterior spaces, courtyards, greens, quadrangles. Exterior elements create the campus.
Use Appropriate Scale: Design buildings that are appropriately sized with their surroundings.
Use Appropriate Style and Materials: New facilities should build on existing campus vocabulary.
Encourage Walkable Environments: Carefully consider vehicular traffic patterns and parking to avoid conflicts with pedestrians and isolation within the campus.
Make Campus Safety Integral to Design: Create defendable spaces that are observed by the public; integrate to campus emergency response systems. Consider emergency response during construction phase.
Consider the 24/7 Campus: Today’s students work and socialize around the clock. The 24-hour environment requires buildings to be more flexible, multi-functional and have access to technology and amenities.
Promote Sustainable Design: Universities have a unique opportunity to teach through their actions. By implementing sustainable design strategies in their capital improvements institutions educate the public on responsible development while responding to long term fiscal concerns.
The design reflects a place where “learning is a joy.” The Joy School is committed to helping children with learning differences reach their academic, social and creative potential by providing an environment that is safe, supportive and innovative where they can learn successfully.
Houston, Texas CLIENT
Educational facilities function as more than learning environments.
Academic campuses increasingly act as social communities, research engines and economic drivers. These facilities must serve as vibrant hubs to support their community whether in workforce training or research.
We understand these challenges. Whether developing a master plan or programming to the latest technology, a design process is used that encourages the involvement of team members to envision the most successful environments and strive for them.
Our multidisciplinary team will assist with your challenges through in depth programming, site appropriate design, inviting and comfortable interiors, integration of stateof-the-art technology and development of environmentally responsible designs.
With a landmark educational building dating back to 1926, Reagan High School was the largest project of HISD’s 2002 Bond Program. Transforming Reagan involved renovations, replacement of numerous auxiliary buildings, new track/field, and new parking facilities. The new buildings respect the scale of the original building and reinterpret key details in a modern way. The internal courtyard commons was developed as the “heart of the campus” to unify the new structures with the historic building.
Houston, Texas CLIENT
Greater Houston Preservation Alliance Good Brick Award
Leveraging limited educational funds requires a holistic view of budgets and a design team that focuses on integrated systems, low maintenance materials and energy efficiency.
RDLR recognizes that the initial building cost, though fixed, is a small portion of the whole building cost over the life of the building— maintenance and operational costs far exceed the construction cost. We work with our clients to find balanced solutions that meet initial costs while minimizing operational expenses.
Many options exist for owners and users to achieve conservation and sustainable design goals. As we develop greater understanding of the impact buildings have on our health and our environment, both globally and locally, attention to sustainable design principles becomes essential for any building design. Sustainable strategies can be used to educate and promote social and environmental responsibility.
The LEED Certified campus, overlooking Houston’s downtown skyline, includes a fine arts annex, outdoor amphitheater, green rooftop, rainwater storage tanks, and a unique red wall. The design of the main building features a flexible floor plan to support everchanging learning models.
Houston, Texas
CLIENT
2013
2014
2018 ULI Development of Distinction Finalist
RDLR has extensive experience in renovation projects with numerous renovations to buildings for schools, colleges and universities.
Often, renovations and repairs present the most challenging technical problems and require creative problem solving. RDLR’S approach to repairs is one of search and resolve. RDLR has a substantial track record of successful renovation and alteration projects.
We approach building renovations as an opportunity to take advantage of design elements within the existing structure that are often hidden or under-utilized.
As one of Fort Bend ISD’s older campuses, its renovation was expedited after Fort Bend ISD identified the existence of non-airborne mold in June 2022. As a result, the campus was closed while renovations and remediation take place. Renovations include renewing the entire interior and bringing a refreshed character to the aging school by creating a new entry and enhanced site improvements.
Sugar Land, Texas
