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challenge for all the jurors to carefully review the submittals. The volume may be a result of a variety of elements, such as expanding or shifting populations or better successes in school funding, but the number of submittals will likely continue to grow. Traditionally accomplished in one day, we are at a point where a two-day judging effort by the group is probably warranted to foster more discussions focused on the best projects. The panel of judges typically includes two architects, who join a small group of educators and school administrators to assess the quality of each year’s entries. The 2007 panel included Barry Sikes, AIA, of BLGY, and myself, along with Mard A. Herrick, PhD, superintendent of Dripping Springs ISD and Robert Schneider, a board member of Austin ISD. Reviewing 92 entries in one day made for a fast-paced event. As architects, Barry and I would liked to have heard more from the administration side about what caught their attention among all the projects. Architects don’t always have the benefit of direct feedback on a showcased design effort, so hearing what works and what doesn’t from our clients’ perspective is always enlightening. With the TASA /TASB Exhibit of School Architecture coming up on its fiftieth anniversary, the program begs a special exhibition to review the history and evolution of school design in Texas. Where else can you view the best practices of a building type as it evolves over the course of 50 years? It would serve us well to
look back and assess what qualities and elements have proven timeless, and which projects highlight a passing fashion or outmoded idea. Many of these schools have or will represent the single largest building investment a group of citizens will make in their community. School facilities typically remain in service for very long periods of time and have to adapt to cultural iterations that weren’t even on the radar at the time of design. Portland High School in Maine was conceived well before the Machine Age yet it is still in service as we find our way through the Information Age. One of the reasons it has persevered is because it has adapted to new demands. For example, the original design intentionally separated programs for boys and girls with a brick wall literally partitioning the two. The removal of this wall, all the way down to the basement, was one of its early adaptations— no doubt a heartfelt, student-inspired change. Schools deserve our best efforts in trying to refine and shape the best path to design excellence. Even if these schools can’t represent everything we as a community and designer would ultimately like to do, they at least present a snapshot of what we have done with the resources and energy that were available at the time. The opportunity to review those snapshots, over a 50-year span, would undoubtedly provide a valuable mirror to see where we havebeen and where we will likely head as a society. Don Greer, AIA, is a vice president of Wiginton Hooker Jeffry PC Architects in Austin.
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