Experience K-12 Vol. 4

EXPERIENCE vol. 4

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DESIGNING A CULTURE

The foundation of design for our clients

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FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO CORPORATE LIFE A first of its kind

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DESIGNING A CULTURE OF OPPORTUNITY Dan Dipert Career + Technical Center

connecting the vocabulary

ADA

(E)EDUCATION

OR (A)ARCHITECTURE

(E) Average Daily Attendance; the number of students attending school on an average day.

OR

(A) Americans with Disabilities Act; federal civil rights law passed in 1990 prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities.

(E) Ability to make changes based on new knowledge (with a good attitude).

OR

(A) Ability to modify aspects of the classroom such as walls, furniture or instructional technology in order to achieve a different configuration to affect a different teaching style or activity.

STORM SHELTER (A) Preference; relates to space organization, visual appearance, and material selection inclinations.

STYLE

(E) Preference; relates to both teaching and learning inclinations. OR

(E) Ability to function with uncertainty and the unknown as a part of the learning process; adept at accepting change.

OR

(A) Able to be modified through minor or no renovation to allow an area or element of a facility to serve a different curricular content need.

CAPACITY

FLEXIBILITY

ADAPTABILITY

(E) The location where you take students to “shelter in place.�

OR

(A) Portion of a facility or separate nearby facility designed to meet ICC 500 requirements for the protection of all building occupants from storms.

(E) An opportunity for growth or deeper development of understanding.

OR

(A) The targeted enrollment or maximum student occupancy of a school at full build out of the attendance zone.

TRANSPARENCY (E) The ability to see with certainty; to increase awareness. OR

(A) The act of or allowance for increasing awareness of activities and decisions at a classroom, campus or district level.

LETTER from the PARTNERS One of the things that attracted me to architecture was how a building or a space can evoke emotion. These may be overt such as how my house makes me feel comfortable, my church engenders reverence, my university fills me with wonder and association, and my doctor’s office incites dread. Then there are subtler responses such as how a building can convey the culture and values of those who build and inhabit it.

Over the last year, VLK has undergone significant renovation and expansion of our Fort Worth and Houston offices. One of the overarching objectives of our renovation was to provide for space that aligns with our company culture.

VLK values our people and the diversity of talent and experience they bring.

We needed engaging collaboration space, flexible work zones, more and varied conference areas, display monitors to communicate news and display our work, open communal work stations, and comfortable, casual seating areas to enhance our employees’ ability to share, learn, and grow.

To construct the new spaces, we had to house in temporary work stations that were squeezed into about a third of our overall footprint. This sacrificial work environment had the effect of our building something together. We became physically and emotionally closer. The cross-departmental and generational seating arrangements stimulated conversation and knowledge sharing that set the tone for our completion objectives. The informal setting also loosened up our culture and facilitated our vision of VLK 3.0: building well rounded, multi-disciplined architects.

The results have been amazing. Of course, we have appreciated the new physical space and all it has to offer, but the real impact has been to strengthen our culture. We feel more like a family than ever before. The office is abuzz with discussion, laughter, encouragement, and celebration. We know more about how our teams meet the challenges they face than ever before. There is a common feeling among us: we are all pulling in the same direction, growing and leading in enormously impactful ways. Our investment in aligning our physical space with our culture has had the intended effect of showing our team we value their ideas and creativity. This vibrancy is showing up throughout our work. We have celebrated innovative designs and truly engaging design experiences for our clients and communities. Our use of online video allows us to better share our stories and we have seen unprecedented registration of our young architects. Expansion into new geographical markets underscores VLK’s thought leadership in educational design statewide. »

Leesa Vardeman, Partner

WE ARE ALL PULLING IN THE SAME DIRECTION, GROWING & LEADING

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Paralleling the continued investment in our own culture, we have also become increasingly attentive to the cultures that we design into our clients’ schools. We have spent the last year researching and tapping into what makes each district and each campus special. We have interviewed countless educators to learn how to align the learning environment with their curricular objectives and vision for their students’ futures.

We have gained tremendous insight and realized a very important fact: we are not just building space, but place. Places that provide their occupants with a feeling of belonging, a sense of trust, a shared vocabulary and core values, and a sense that you matter.

This more studied approach to culture has helped us better realize our clients’ goals: conveying the ways in which a community values education and its students (Condit Elementary—Houston ISD), underscoring the value of treating staff as professionals (McClatchey Elementary—Midlothian ISD), providing for student independence, growth, and empowerment (Braswell High School—Denton ISD), respecting traditions (Walsh Elementary—Aledo ISD), and investing in innovation (Dan Dipert CTC—Arlington ISD).

We have experienced first-hand the benefits of designing to support a culture of communication, creativity, and innovation. We practice what we preach, and as a result, the buildings we create come alive with the values, spirit, and mission of its users and the broader community.

Top: VLK employees enjoy their recently renovated kitchen and collaboration space.

Bottom: Employees work together in VLK’s recently renovated collaboration space and library.

The buildings we create come alive with the values, spirit, and mission of its users and the broader community

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table of

CONTENTS 01

Letter from the Partners Leesa Vardeman

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Designing a Culture Ken Hutchens and Dalane Bouillion, Ed. D

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Friday Night Football John Brooks

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The Replacements Ken Hutchens, and Dalane Bouillion, Ed. D

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From High School to Corporate Life Tim Kunz

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Narrowing the Focus Dalane Bouillion, Ed. D.

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A Defining Moment Leesa Vardeman

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A Culture of Exhibiting Opportunity Richard Hunt

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Pay It Forward Justin Hiles

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Our Cultural Evolution Sloan Harris

VLK is successful because we don’t just design buildings, we think about the people that will be in them.

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DESIGNING a CULTURE

by Dalane Bouillion Ed. D, Principal and Educational Planner & Ken Hutchens, Principal of Creative

The exploration of educational culture has been around for some time. Deal and Peterson (1999) suggest that the “concept of schools having distinct cultures is not new” (p. 2) and can be traced back to 1932. What is school culture, exactly? Under the “conscious awareness of everyday life in schools, there is a stream of thought and activity” (p. 3) which silently speaks the unwritten code of how school business is accomplished. “Symbolic language and expressive action” (Deal & Peterson, 1990, p. 7) over time reveal the “underlying and social meanings that shape beliefs and behavior” (p. 7). School cultures evolve and are the compilation of “complex webs of traditions and rituals that have been built up over time” (Deal & Peterson, 1999, p. 4).

Elements of school culture, and therefore, architectural design, influence “from what faculty talk about in the lunch room, to the type of instruction that is valued, to the way professional development is viewed, to the importance of learning for all students” (p. 7).

Design – it is what we do. But what do we design? Schools?

Absolutely, but it is much more than that. We design culture.

Deal and Peterson (1999) posit, “Organizations usually have clearly distinguishable identities

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manifested in organization members’ patterns of behavior, thought, and norms” (p. 3).

This is culture. Schools have it, businesses have it, but it exists much like a fingerprint – no two are exactly alike. Moreover, a community is not comprised of simple “associative ties which hold persons together in diverse ways, but an organization of all elements by an integrated principle” (Dewey, 1954, p.

38). The legendary Dr. Bob Thompson, who developed many principals and superintendents in Texas at Lamar University, shares profoundly that “communities get the schools they want” (personal communication, September 2004). How each district and its surrounding community defines the “powerful, pervasive, and notoriously elusive force” (Deal & Peterson, 1999, p. 2) known as culture is what makes each unique.

When a school district approaches architectural design, one of the first questions to be asked is, what vision are they working to realize and how should they go about accomplishing it? What instructional methods do they use? What industry-inspired soft skills are they trying to instill?

The intentions of school districts should drive the planning process, incorporating intricate ideologies

to support the feel that a school seeks to convey. Without client collaboration, how would we know what to design?

At VLK Architects, a methodical study of a client’s beliefs, values, and goals precedes the design process in order to make connections to the culture that exists, and to help predict how the culture will evolve. Coupling two planning tools (a student learning styles protocol and a framework for assessing learning organization beliefs) is providing data that suggest the spaces that students need today are very different from traditional classrooms. Districts with strong belief systems that place them as functioning within the framework as a learning organization (Schlechty, 2009) also have teachers who perceive the majority of students as needing to feel, touch, and move in order to

Culture - schools have it, businesses have it, but it exists much like a fingerprint – no two are exactly alike. achieve at profound levels. At VLK Architects, our designs are geared to support teaching and learning. This means that we explore examples of built environments that align with our client’s vision or create new types of spaces inspired by the culture they wish to create. Modern instructional cultures include flexible spaces that allow students to learn in various small group sizes, equipped with a variety of furniture that allows for movement. At times, spaces need to be enclosed, but should also have the ability to expand to create larger areas for multiple classes. Students require personal space allowing

freedom to think. For many, thinking requires the ability to look out the window, move their feet, wiggle in their seat, or stand and write. Creative and collaborative design produces these intentional areas and situates them in the most advantageous areas within the school.

School cultures will continue to evolve. Standards and expectations are ever-increasing, as is students’ ease of operation with advanced technology. Designing just to make space look different has the potential to completely miss the district’s cultural intentionality. When

this is the case, the intended use of the space is never realized. VLK Architects designs with clients to ensure that educational spaces fulfill specific curricular goals. Teachers will continue to hone instructional methods and design student learning experiences, requiring even more complexity than the lessons of today. Designing for evolving school cultures allows the instructional standards of tomorrow to be effectively learned within the spaces we create today.

References: Deal, T. E., & Peterson, K. D. (1999).

Shaping school culture: The heart of leadership.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Deal, T. E., & Peterson, K. D. The Principal’s Role in Shaping School Culture. Washington D.C.: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, 1990.

Dewey, J. (1927). The public and its problems.

New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Schlechty, P. C. (2009). Leading for learning: How to transform schools into learning organizations.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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friday night football

TEXAS CULTURE

by John Brooks, Senior Associate

In Texas, Friday Night Football is more than a game. It is a way of life and a unique celebration of community and culture, bringing together diverse groups and uniting them in a common cause—the chance to participate in the customs, traditions, and practices unique to their school and to the state. Student participation extends beyond the game of football itself; many take part in the drill and dance teams, in cheerleading, and the marching band. The pageantry involves the entire school and community in game day rituals geared to inspire. This collaborative effort with HKS Architects had a unique challenge – Legacy Stadium had to be designed as a venue to support these singular celebrations for all eight district high schools.

A shared football stadium for multiple high schools in a large suburban school district presented unique design

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challenges, not least of which was to organize and facilitate the thousands of students and spectators, and private and public vehicles Legacy Stadium would host on a typical fall evening. Design and operations were complicated by the presence of KISD’s first stadium, Rhodes Stadium, on the same campus. To share the site and operate concurrently, it was assumed that games would have staggered start times. But the sheer volume of transport required the establishment of new traffic patterns, bus routes, and staging areas specific to sports teams and school bands.

New parking areas with entrances featuring deep stacking and discharge capability were created and existing parking areas were reorganized to work with revised circulation patterns. A shared drop-off area adjacent to a land bridge connecting the two stadiums will allow parents to drop students attending games at either venue.

Legacy Stadium is not just a venue for football, it is a venue to host the rich and colorful mix of culture and activities in Katy ISD. Throughout all the functional planning, the design goal for Legacy Stadium was to create a flexible, multi-use sports venue that would feel like “home field” to all of KISD’s high schools. The first step was to bring the fans close to the action on the field to create an intimate, engaging game experience. Legacy Stadium will keep fans “in the room.” The concourse will be open to the seating bowl, so fans can stay involved with the game while visiting concession stands and restrooms. Air-conditioned hospitality suites and terraces overlooking the stadium offer truly customized experiences.

The design for Legacy Stadium includes a two-story press box and a 12,000 square foot field house featuring flexible, divisible locker rooms, training rooms, meeting areas for coaches, and multiple loading and staging areas to host a variety of teams. Flexible support rooms provide staging areas for cheerleaders and special occasions, such as Homecoming.

Several thousand students are expected to participate in activities at the stadium each week, so to express a team’s unique brand, a flexible LED lighting system will illuminate portions of the stadium with the team colors, banners, and graphics. A park-like land bridge over an existing storm drainage channel can be used for pregame tailgating and other events, including fine arts competitions.

Regardless of that Friday night’s real “Home” team, it is hoped that Legacy Stadium’s true impact will be the shared district experiences, future fine arts achievements, and lifetime memories of being a part of this community’s strong and positive culture. Hopefully, it will also inspire future championships, to continue the Katy ISD tradition.

Left: Stadium lights represent all eight high schools in Katy ISD. Bottom: Each high school’s band, dance, cheer, and football teams line the field for the grand opening of Legacy Stadium.

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the

REPLACEMENTS a tale of two cultures

by Dalane Bouillion Ed. D, Principal and Educational Planner & Ken Hutchens, Principal of Creative

In 2013, VLK Architects was selected to design two replacement elementary school campuses, which yielded different but equally impactful facilities. Located in urban districts, both campuses required facilities to support teaching and learning via resources designed to align with their districts’ curriculum and instruction.

Both campuses also required areas where teaching and learning could be facilitated in collaborative environments, as they have strong positive cultures that expect not only students, but also families, to engage with the school. So how did two seemingly similar design problems yield two distinctly different campuses?

to adequately serve 720 students.

The original building, constructed in 1928, had seen major additions and renovations in 1950, 1959, and 1981.

Portions of it had experienced such significant cracks that administrators joked they could use the gaps in the walls for storage. The many expansions outgrew the original 1928 site, leading to overcrowding and clutter. With no other options, administrators were obliged to use a busy street for drop off and pick up, as well as staff and visitor parking. Compounding the issues with the building, a detailed process was also required by the City of Bellaire in order to meet site, parking, and traffic requirements.

The Goals The building programs outlining the academic spaces for Condit and McWhirter were similar, each calling for transformational learning environments featuring collaboration areas, outdoor learning, and robust technology. Both desired an efficient layout that would support teaching and learning to yield more instruction time and improved learning outcomes, while improving campus safety and security.

McWhirter Elementary School has served the Webster community in Clear Creek ISD since 1952. Housing 1,000 students, the original school had experienced multiple additions and used temporary facilities to manage enrollment growth. The McWhirter campuses began as one school; later, the sites housed two separate campuses and over time were connected to create a larger, single campus. By 2013, the campus had sprawled to an overwhelming 180,000 gross square feet and had over 70 exterior doors. First grade students who needed to go to the nurse’s office were faced with a quarter-mile walk – one way – through a series of patchwork halls. After hours, the school provided a rich adult community education program, but it had no viable way to »

The Challenges Condit Elementary School has served the Bellaire community in the Houston ISD for over 90 years. As the population of Bellaire grew, so did the needs of the elementary school. Through a series of remodels, the school was enlarged, but continued to need revision in order

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secure the campus for the after-school sessions without a full security sweep of the school by administrators and faculty. Additional outreach programs included the daily preparation of meals in the school kitchen so that local families would have food on their tables at night, toy drives—even for those who do not attend McWhirter, and clothing donations throughout the entire calendar year.

Clear Creek ISD required a new prototype plan to support existing programs and introduce new collaborative learning spaces, while incorporating earlier elementary school components such as grade-level neighborhoods.

BOTH CAMPUSES REQUIRED AREAS WHERE TEACHING AND LEARNING COULD BE FACILITATED IN

COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS.

The Cultures and Design While the basic needs and requirements for these two schools were similar, the cultures of the two districts and school communities were not. Culture is the “symbolic glue” (Deal & Peterson, 1999, p. 2) that defines an organization. Moreover, “highly respected organizations have evolved a shared system of informal folkways and traditions that infuse work with meaning, passion, and purpose” (p. 1).

Condit Elementary School - Houston ISD is the largest school district in the State of Texas, teaching over 200,000 students per year with a widely diverse and pocketed socio-economic population. Houston ISD’s Building Programs Department, which manages the design and construction of district facilities, has a robust system of standards in place by which to create equity across facilities. It relies upon communitybased committees to provide input and feedback throughout the design process. The district has established building space programs to encourage collaborative environments and

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21st Century learning spaces in its new campuses.

The Condit culture reflects a neighborhood school with a high level of parental involvement. In the front office, it is normal to see mothers dropping off hot lunches from Chick-Fil-A for their children.

Neighborhood homes surround the campus with beautifully manicured lawns. The City of Bellaire promotes the values of an “open, progressive and secure community” and Condit Elementary is situated within the boundaries of this well-respected area of Houston. During the 20152016 school year, 33.6% of students were considered at-risk of dropping out of school. Additionally, 22.5% of students were considered English Language Learners.

The new Condit Elementary design resulted in a two-story replacement school. Houston ISD brought together parents, teachers, and Condit administrators, along with Bellaire community members to form the Project Advisory Team (PAT). VLK Architects met extensively with the PAT to develop the design, often meeting twice per month to present the latest progress. Early on, VLK organized a design charrette to engage the PAT in a two-day work session to establish the project’s vision. “Education is the ribbon that ties the community together” served as the guiding force for the building design. Classrooms were organized and threaded, like a ribbon, through the Learning Commons, which serves as the main hub for the school. The ribbon of classrooms allows each grade level to be grouped into a learning pod, each with its own collaboration space, yet remain interconnected to the whole.

McWhirter Elementary School - With just over 41,000 students, Clear Creek ISD, located southeast of Houston, encompasses communities including all or portions of the City of Houston, Friendswood, El Lago, Kemah, Webster, and is the home of NASA. Clear Creek ISD’s Department of Facility Services oversees the planning, budgeting,

and construction for all building projects, as well as the creation and implementation of standards, creating equity across the district. Design is facilitated at Central Office, and accomplished with both district and campus administrators, with other campus staff members involved as needed.

Collaborative areas are teamed with computer labs enclosed by folding glass walls to create breakout spaces. Art and science classrooms feature outdoor project areas. The Community Education area features classrooms with operable walls to create different scale environments for after-hours adult education.

The McWhirter culture is that of a tight-knit family, with the community and school supporting each other both in times of need and during celebrations of success.

Holidays are cultural experiences and involve many families. During the 2015-2016 school year, 67% of students were considered at-risk of dropping out of school. Moreover, 61.1% of students were enrolled in Bilingual and English Language Learning programs.

Although these two campuses had similar academic program needs for space, they had distinctively different cultures. The VLK Architects’ approach to both designs incorporated the districts’ individual needs, which produced two characteristically different solutions. By studying the cultures of schools prior to design, the crucial aspects of each can be purposefully incorporated as modernized learning environments.

A true “community school,” the new replacement design of McWhirter Elementary houses 1,000 students and provides both pre-k - fifth grade and adult community education spaces in one campus. Administrators shared the academic and social needs of the community to guide the design process. Grade level neighborhoods feature collaborative spaces and technology connectivity.

Previous Page Left: Media Center, Condit Elementary School, Houston ISD Above: Collaboration Space, McWhirter Elementary School, Clear Creek ISD

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from

HIGH SCHOOL to CORPORATE LIFE

by Tim Kunz, Principal

Situated in Houston’s Third Ward community in a city that is home to more than 5,000 energyrelated firms, Houston Independent School District (HISD) is paving the way for a new kind of

THE PHRASE,

“FIRST OF ITS KIND”

IS OFTEN USED TO DESCRIBE ENERGY INSTITUTE HIGH SCHOOL. energy boom—industry-ready students versed in corporate culture.

In 2013, HISD embarked on a new magnet program. Their aim was to create an environment that promoted high-level cognitive and social learning skills centered on the energy industry. The first class of 200 students set the stage for success in a 1960’s elementary school.

The following year, 650 students applied to the school—three times the number of available seats. With momentum on their side, HISD quickly embarked on the next chapter of their magnet program and started planning a new campus for their future energy leaders.

Traditionally, magnet programs throughout the U.S. have focused on specialized curriculum, drawing students from across district boundaries to support a shared academic

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goal. At the Energy Institute High School, the goal was simple: Attract students who aspire to a career in the energy industry. Lori Lambropoulos, Principal, and Noelle McGregor, Dean of Students, began developing the school’s identity by reaching out to local industry and community partnerships. Wishing to move beyond traditional teaching methods, the leadership team encouraged VLK to think outside conventional design practices, insisting that the next generation of industry leaders should learn in an environment aligned with corporate culture. So, how do you create a high school campus that promotes corporate social practices? Our answer? Curation: VLK’s think-tank to promote innovative ideas and solutions. Alongside HISD, VLK Architects led a Project Advisory Team (PAT) to research, ask questions, give feedback, and reach consensus on the physical and cultural character of the new building. Developed collectively with the PAT, the new 114,000 sf campus was designed to support 800 students through collaborative learning communities.

Comprised of three buildings that converge at a covered outdoor learning courtyard, learning spaces are interconnected to support project-based-learning pathways in offshore technology, geosciences, and alternative energy. Each community provides individual work spaces, flexible collaboration zones, integrated technology, and hands-on lab space for specialized curriculum. To promote student engagement and innovation, technologyintensive media labs and presentation halls enable students to prepare and deliver professional presentations. For the first time in history, high school students will learn »

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the fundamentals of engineering and present prototypical solutions to global energy leaders.

Situated in the “Energy Capital of the World,” inspiration for the physical character of the building was at our fingertips. With an emphasis on mirroring corporate culture, VLK Architects extracted elements reflective of the energy industry. Simple, yet bold, contrasting masonry and brilliant metal panels showcase the activities within. The glass cube entry is an icon for the school, while the science labs, a staple of the school’s programs, are clad with iconic iron-spot brick.

Being a one-of-a-kind high school has created a sense of belonging where student intellect and curiosity fuel not only a distinctive sense of pride, but an entirely new life-long learning dynamic. With HISD’s investment, Energy Institute High School students may begin by dreaming of becoming a CEO in robotics, but can end up producing a framework of sociological change. For VLK, there has been no better reward than to witness this evolution and to be a part of their future.

The students of the Energy Institute High School will move into their new home in 2018.

Previous Page; Top: Current construction progress Middle: Students try out VR headsets. Bottom: Front Entry rendering Left: Wall graphics for Energy Institute High School Below: VLK Principal, Tim Kunz and Energy Institute Principal, Lori Lambropoulos review construction progress.

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NARROWING the focus

Grade configuration is one mode within a community’s educational culture that seeks to define who learns best where. Different studies have investigated which configurations are most effective at supporting the academic and social needs of students. No one “right way” exists. In Brazosport ISD, when faced with the need for new schools, and an opportunity to focus on the crucial skills for early childhood learning, the district studied the possibility of creating a school specifically for kindergartners and first graders. Why was this important? What would it do to support the rich culture of the district? Designing a new school for early learning enables the district to focus on literacy and numeracy while creating fluent students.

Moreover, it furthered Brazosport’s dedication to the belief that every child should be future-ready.

Instead of opting for a simple school replacement strategy, Brazosport ISD researched the best options to support their district’s goals, identified the needs of their primary children, and decided to create a new 750-student school designed specifically for early learners. Freeport Elementary School teachers will design instruction to increase engagement and function as facilitators in an environment rich with technology integration. The school itself will be an instructional tool for innovative teaching and learning with a Wet Lab and a Tech Lab accessed directly from student collaboration areas and opening onto an outdoor learning patio, offering amazing discovery and

by Dalane Bouillion Ed. D, Principal and Educational Planner

virtual field experiences. A math-integrated gym will amplify the abundance of learning opportunities in the building.

The flexible media center, at the heart of the building, features a kiva and Makerspace, supporting the intentional expectation for student creativity. The furniture – all on casters – allows for ease in reconfiguring the media center for a variety of instructional needs. Brazosport ISD is also investing anew in its teachers. Collaborative professional learning studios are provided in each wing and a Literacy Library will maintain crucial instructional tools, including leveled reading materials that support early learners.

Working to create an educational culture focused on early learners ensures that Freeport Elementary students will be at the heart of all lesson design with room to make, do, explore, and achieve.

Top: Brazosport ISD employees at the ground breaking for the new Freeport Elementary School.

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a DEFINING

by Leesa Vardeman, Partner

The Mary D. and F. Howard Walsh Elementary School for Aledo ISD is the first elementary in the much-heralded and long-awaited Walsh development west of Fort Worth. It represents a pivotal moment in Aledo ISD’s history because it is the first school opening since the district moved into fast growth classification and it is a physical embodiment of the cornerstone that public schools serve in our communities. Quality neighborhoods start with quality schools.

MOMENT

Walsh Elementary has the unique distinction to be the first building to turn dirt in the 7,200 acre master

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planned Walsh development which is anticipated to support 15,000 homes or 50,000 residents. The wide open, rolling prairie has been home to the Walsh family’s cattle business and oil operations since the 1930’s and has been conceptualized as an ideally livable community since the 1990’s. The Walsh family has taken a long time and great care to design a neighborhood concept that speaks to their values and respects the natural beauty of this land.

At the core of these values is the desire to develop a community culture that holds education in the highest

regard by anchoring each residential phase around a neighborhood school.

The school will then be connected to a series of natural elements such as ponds or natural prairie grass fields, as well as community amenities such as co-working space for freelancers and Makerspace by a series of walking and bike trails. The entire neighborhood will be blanketed by a two-gigabit internet so learning can and will happen anywhere.

This devotion to education and excellence in the Walsh development forms a perfect partnership to the highly regarded Aledo Independent

School District. AISD has applied its culture of universal student success through the integration of transformational learning design elements: Student collaboration areas immediately adjacent to grade level classroom pods permit enhanced communication for more in-depth exploration of ideas; grade-level teacher planning hubs support professional learning; hands-on STEM and science labs support real world experiences; robust technology throughout extends learning beyond the walls of the school.

learning spaces and utilizing energy efficient features. The windows will be enhanced by electrochromic glass that tints on demand to provide ultimate energy and glare control.

The school environment is also augmented by an energy efficient geothermal HVAC system, LED lights, lighting/HVAC controls and low maintenance non-wax floors. Best of all, the windows in Walsh Elementary will have optimum views of the surrounding landscape, inviting in the rolling prairie grasslands the Walsh family so cherished.

The inclusion of natural light in schools has been shown to enhance the educational experience for both teachers and students. Aledo ISD has incorporated this research by introducing natural light into all

Each floor level of the campus connects to ground level to play grounds and outdoor learning opportunities through a split-level floor plan concept. The school then connects to the area parks

and walking trails to reinforce the “Aledoness,” or small-town culture, identified as desirable by AISD’s long range planning committee.

It is difficult to assess which culture came first: Walsh with its love of the land, nature, and the lifestyle it affords, or Aledo ISD with its dedication to quality education and opportunity for every student. But this much is sure— together, they form an ideal marriage.

Above: Front Entry Rendering

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designing a culture of

OPPORTUNITY

by Richard Hunt, Associate

Opportunity is defined simply as a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. Defining a culture of opportunity for Arlington ISD and the entire Arlington community has been at the forefront of every discussion concerning the Dan Dipert Career + Technical Center.

It was crucial that the Center’s architecture promote Arlington ISD’s vision for a new culture of opportunity for their students. Expressive and monumental, the architecture is unique to the neighborhood and city as a whole. The expansive curtain wall, featuring diagonal sun shade fins, serves as a subconscious billboard to passersby—visitors and students understand they are entering an institution of higher learning and not just another run-of-the-mill high school building. Arlington ISD and VLK Architects collaborated with industry experts to ensure that each academy within the Career + Technical Center would prepare students for the real world. All 18 academies surround a central space fronted with glass to maximize transparency. Strolling down this main corridor, one can view students engaging in a variety of skills,

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from aligning the wheels on a Ford F150 or programming and operating CNC machines, to students styling hair or conducting TV Newscasts.

Collaboration at all levels is the driving force behind the design of the Dan Dipert Career + Technical Center. The central space allows for cross-pollination among the different academies, such as Health Sciences and the Fire Academy, or Photography and Cosmetology. This creates an environment where students solve problems together and work as teams, just as they will be expected to do as productive citizens of their communities. Such collaboration continues throughout the Center’s floorplan.

Teachers will office in a common area instead of individual classrooms and furniture will encourage collaboration among the staff by arrangement in pods.

Diversity is another key ingredient of the Dipert CTC culture. The student body will be drawn from six different high schools throughout the district. The tremendous opportunity to acquire certification upon graduation is

creating a lot of excitement among these high school students. With these certifications, they will be able to immediately join the workforce. For those students who plan to attain a university degree, the Dipert CTC also offers college preparatory courses.

Because the Dan Dipert CTC will house 18 specialized academies, from Culinary Arts and Welding to Engineering and Robotics, an all-inclusive, branded facility was needed. The brand for the program and the building had to be united, easily recognizable, simple and powerful, symbolizing the opportunities the Center affords students in this large district. It was inspired by the building itself, using the sun shade fins as the repeating image throughout. The image not only works to identify the school, but also provides wayfinding so that academies can be easily located. Throughout the building, signage, graphics, and window film invite current students and beckon future generations of learners. Visitors and students can easily identify the Dan Dipert CTC and will remember it long after they experience it.

The Dan Dipert Career + Technical Center creates the possibility for all students of Arlington ISD to not only do something, but do anything.

Left: Central collaboration space allows for cross-pollination between academies. Top Right: Night-view of the front entry curtain wall.

Bottom Right: Glass storefronts maximize transparency to classrooms.

Opportunity is defined simply as a set of circumstances that make it possible to do something.

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PAY

by Justin Hiles, Senior Associate & Charles Johnson Senior Associate

FORWARD

As interns, our mentors instilled in us the responsibility to “pay it forward” when they offered advice. They expected that we would someday do for future architects what they had done for us. At VLK, our company culture assumes that we will invest in the future of both education and architecture. To do this, we partner with school districts to offer career day presentations, job shadowing, and high school internships. These programs encourage students to have an interest in architecture, learn about the profession, and realize that they, too, can become an architect.

Career Days allow us to demonstrate the profession of architecture to students of all ages. VLK does this by sending our architects to local campuses to share their experiences.

Presentations at elementary schools include building models out of popsicle sticks and teaching students how to build 3D models using free software. We help middle school students identify the best electives to take when they get to high school to prepare them for college, and teach high school students what they can expect at the university level and the opportunities that exist for them after graduation.

VLK’s Job Shadowing events invite students interested in architecture or interior design to visit our office before making a career path commitment. This type of partnership with a variety of districts has been in place for many years and goes beyond the typical visit to the classroom. This year, VLK built on our experiences with Klein ISD’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. Eight students were invited to visit the VLK Houston office to observe our project teams in action.

The students arrived at our office dressed for success. Angel Rivera, a project coordinator

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held a brief orientation on the types of work we do before rotating the students through various project teams. To make learning fun, students participated in a game of “Architectural Lingo Bingo” in order to build vocabulary as they visited each team.

VLK has also partnered with Arlington ISD over the last four years to host high school internships as part of their CTE Practicum program. Each year, a senior who has taken Architecture and Engineering classes in their sophomore and junior years, takes a practicum class, allowing them to work in our firm two days a week for the entire school year. While they work on projects, we provide mentoring—on the project in particular and architecture in general—so that they leave with a real-world experience in a corporate setting. We are proud to say that each of our student interns has pursued a degree in Architecture; some have returned to VLK as summer interns at the beginning of their professional careers.

Mentoring the next generation of architects not only ensures that the profession will stay strong, but also fulfills the culture of “paying it forward” so important at VLK Architects. A company culture that invests in its own people and the community they serve benefits not only students, but gives the world amazing spaces in which to live, learn, and work.

Top: VLK hosts Klein ISD students for a Job Shadow Day. Bottom: VLK Employees participate in STEMania at Weatherford College Wise County.

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our CULTURAL

EVOLUTION As humans, we create culture. As architects, we create spaces where cultures can thrive, where they can continually develop and evolve. Culture is and always should be the foundation of design for our clients and it is one of the more exciting elements in our own profession – always being presented with a new challenge, a different ethos, which we get to explore and respond to.

Sloan Harris, Partner

As a firm, VLK designs and explores in the same way to ensure our culture has an environment that stimulates creativity, thought, and professional and personal growth. The culture at VLK is incredible because, as evident in everything we do, people come first. There is nothing more important in our firm than our people.

Regardless of their experience level, role or background everyone benefits from the shared beliefs and practices our culture has created. And as our people continue to grow and advance, and we welcome new generations into our practice, we must continue to respond to their cultivation, and provide an environment where they can continue to evolve.

Those responses, and those provisions, must be created differently now because we have to rapidly adapt to completely new environments. Cultural evolution is defined as change in socially transmitted beliefs, knowledge, customs, skills, attitudes, and languages. And in the cases of our work and learning, how information is transmitted is the main instigator. Historically, the ability to accumulate knowledge has only happened over a whole population over hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It has not been individual intelligence that has advanced our cultures. The Inuit peoples do not have a gene that tells them how to make a parka. That ability comes from the accumulation of knowledge from generation to generation. Case in point is how explorers looking for passage across northern America froze to death when there were villages of Inuit around them living their normal lives. But today, I can “learn” how to fashion a parka with a click. Our capacity to learn or change, at least in our access to information, continues to grow exponentially.

Corporations across the world face these circumstances every day as new generations enter the workforce. Each of those generations have developed and learned differently, in some cases in extreme fashion. Take for example our profession of architecture, where the senior level architect has developed their craft through the accumulation of knowledge over decades of practice, problem solving with a pencil rather than a computer. Their knowledge bank could only be developed over decades because it’s passed from generation to generation through physical practice. Now enter the architectural intern, who has developed

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their craft almost exclusively in a digital world. The same information that their predecessors took decades to learn, they have available to them in one click.

How should we move forward to produce the most benefit to our culture? Do we hold on to the traditional art of architecture or harness the resources and technologies that have been made available to our newest generations?

Cultural evolution is accelerating for many reasons, one of those being the rate at which we can acquire information as well as technology advancements to apply that knowledge. Our design response to this acceleration of cultural evolution not only must keep up, it must stay ahead, which presents unique challenges; we are providing environments that must be sustainable even though we have little idea how generations to come will work or learn in those environments. We must constantly re-evaluate this reality because we design for evolving culture in everything we do. When we can correlate our work with the positive impact we are having on the world, it validates the qualitative measure by which we measure our success.

CULTURE IS & ALWAYS SHOULD BE THE FOUNDATION OF DESIGN FOR OUR CLIENTS

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27

IN THE WORKS

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AUSTIN • DALLAS • EL PASO • FORT WORTH • HOUSTON