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Alamo Heights unveils designs for 20,000-square-foot district community center and junior school upgrades
Summary
Architects presented renderings for a ~20,000-square-foot District Community Center on Broadway and major junior school renovations, including a stacked gym and sixth-grade building, track reorientation, a ~2,000-square-foot cafeteria addition, and tree-preservation elements; construction could begin as early as summer and budget estimates include tree mitigation and parking adjustments.
Architects working on Alamo Heights ISD's bond projects presented conceptual designs on Feb. 18 that would add a two-story, roughly 20,000-square-foot District Community Center on Broadway and substantial renovations and additions to the junior school.
Maya Hager, a project presenter, and Eric, the project's lead architect, described the community center as housing upper-level administrative offices and a boardroom with flexible partitioning and lower-level educational foundation and technology offices. "This is a 2 story building around 20,000 square feet," the lead architect said, adding that the design draws materials and campus identity cues from the nearby high school.
At the junior school the team proposed a west-side gym and a stacked sixth-grade academic core to save cost and improve proximity to STEM and fine-arts buildings. Plans include a reoriented track and field (north'south orientation), additional student parking in Mules Plaza, two gymnasiums that seat roughly 250'300 people each, and a roughly 2,000-square-foot cafeteria addition on the east side of campus. The architects said covered walkways, preservation of mature oak trees and acoustical work in the auditorium are part of the design.
Board members and audience members asked about noise separation between gyms and classrooms; the architect said an acoustician is engaged, and cited construction details including an 8-inch CMU wall and additional measures to resolve acoustic issues. On parking, the design team said current plans show a modest net increase (about 20 parking spaces) and that tree-preservation and shading requirements were included in budget estimates.
The presentation noted the junior school design is in a mid-stage of design development and that portions of construction could begin as early as summer; the architects said the team visited Boerne ISD and other districts to validate design decisions. Board members praised the work and said both projects are tracking "generally on budget" to the milestones presented.
No formal board vote was taken on the designs at the meeting; the presentation preceded committee reports and other business.
