The recently completed Texas School for the Deaf Administration and Welcome Center and Early Learning Center, at the state’s oldest continuously operating public school, was designed to foster a sense of belonging for the deaf community. Designed with DeafSpace principles, a set of concepts that recognize the unique human experience of deafness and encourage community building, personal safety, communication, and occupant well-being, specifically for the deaf community, the structure serves as a new campus gateway building.
Designed by McKinney York Architects, the 25,000 sf structure is the anchor for the first phase of the school’s ambitious new campus master plan. It balances different functional needs of public and educational spaces within one building by differing the building massing to clearly denote a formal entry to the administrative areas, separating them from the semi-private entry to classrooms. The new building gathers various departments previously located in different locations around the campus into a single administrative center. It also provides formal and informal meeting spaces, public spaces, and a ten-classroom childhood educational center.
The entry is light and airy, with a double-height, glazed lobby accented with wood finishes providing a warm and welcoming focus for new visitors. Strategically placed openings between classroom and workspaces offer unobstructed visual communication between students and teachers. Round and curved spaces forming generous communal areas are featured throughout the design, enhancing the efficiency of sign language communication, and actively encouraging formal and informal gathering.
The building is the first major construction project at the school to use DeafSpace principles, which were incorporated into the design from the programming phase onward. First developed in 2005-2010 by a team from Gallaudet University, DeafSpace principles use a series of design concepts including Sensory Reach, Space and Proximity, Mobility and Flexibility, Light and Color, and Acoustics. Features including lighting, corridor widths, and door operations are considered when designing spaces that recognize the unique human experience of being deaf rather than treating deafness as a disability to be accommodated.
“The design effort by McKinney York Architects to take materials of previous generations on campus, to integrate them to the greatest extent possible without replicating what had been done in the past 150 years, through to new construction materials, paint, textures tones, is period-correct now, but also ties back to the timelessness and history of the school,” said Justin Wedel, CFO, the Texas School for the Deaf.
Owner and/or developer: Texas School for the Deaf
Design architect: McKinney York Architects
Architect of record: McKinney York Architects
MEP engineer: TG&W Engineers, Inc.
Structural engineer: Structures
General contractor/construction manager: Chasco Constructors Civil Engineer: Garza EMC
Landscape Architect: Studio Balcones
IT/ AV/ Security/Acoustics: Datacom Design Group
Cost Estimating: AGCM, Inc.
Related Stories
| Aug 8, 2013
Top Science and Technology Sector Architecture Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
HDR, Perkins+Will, HOK top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest science and technology sector architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Aug 8, 2013
Top Science and Technology Sector Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Skanska, DPR, Suffolk top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest science and technology sector contractors and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Aug 6, 2013
Renovation of Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study yields oldest LEED-certified building in U.S.
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study recently achieved LEED-NC v3 Gold certification for its renovation of the historic Fay House, making it the oldest LEED-certified building in the United States.
| Jul 31, 2013
15 innovations impacting higher education
Colleges must become more nimble, entrepreneurial, student-focused, and accountable for what students learn, according to Steven Mintz, Executive Director of the University of Texas system’s Institute for Transformational Learning. Mintz offers 15 innovations in higher education.
| Jul 29, 2013
2013 Giants 300 Report
The editors of Building Design+Construction magazine present the findings of the annual Giants 300 Report, which ranks the leading firms in the AEC industry.
| Jul 25, 2013
First look: Studio Gang's residential/dining commons for University of Chicago
The University of Chicago will build a $148 million residence hall and dining commons designed by Studio Gang Architects, tentatively slated for completion in 2016.
| Jul 22, 2013
School officials and parents are asking one question: Can design prevent another Sandy Hook? [2013 Giants 300 Report]
The second deadliest mass shooting by a single person in U.S. history galvanizes school officials, parents, public officials, and police departments, as they scrambled to figure out how to prevent a similar incident in their communities.
| Jul 22, 2013
Competitive pressures push academia to improve residences, classrooms, rec centers [2013 Giants 300 Report]
College and university construction continues to suffer from strained government spending and stingy commercial credit.
| Jul 22, 2013
Top K-12 School Sector Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Gilbane, Balfour Beatty, Turner top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest K-12 school sector contractors and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Jul 22, 2013
Top K-12 School Sector Engineering Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
AECOM, URS, STV top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest K-12 school sector engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
