Andy Dekaney High School in Houston, TX, has won the prestigious 2008 Caudill Award, the highest architectural honor awarded at the Texas Association of School Boards’ and the Texas Association of School Administrators’ annual convention. The campus was designed by SHW Group’s Houston studio, one of the largest educational architecture and design firms in the U.S, while Gilbane Building Company’s Houston office served as the general contractor.
An example of how construction can be used to impact instruction, the interior of the 486,000-square-foot building was designed to provide a learning environment in which size impacts learning and affects students’ sense of community and belonging. A design was envisioned that would break the large school down into smaller learning academies and grade-level housing.
Inspired by the natural setting of the site, SHW Group developed the design concept of a mountain lodge theme. Lodge theme features include an entrance sign made of cedar and planks, local hand-molded bricks hearkening back to another era, and galvanized stairs and handrails that wear and age richly.
