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Ann Richards Middle School, La Joya, Texas.

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Title: Ann Richards Middle School, La Joya, Texas.
Language: English
Authors: Dillon, David
Source: Architectural Record. Mar 2003 191(3):136-139.
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 4
Publication Date: 2003
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Descriptive
Descriptors: Architecture, Building Design, Building Innovation, Construction Management, Educational Facilities Planning, Facility Case Studies, Middle Schools, Photographs, School Buildings
ISSN: 0003-858X
Abstract: Describes the title school building, including the educational context and design goals. Includes information on the architects, manufacturers/suppliers, and construction team; a general building description; and a commentary on the design. Also includes the floor plan and photographs. (EV)
Journal Code: CIJOCT2003
Entry Date: 2003
Accession Number: EJ668010
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0009346592;arr01mar.03;2003Mar24.09:44;v1.9</anid> <title id="AN0009346592-1">Ann Richards Middle School </title> <sbt id="AN0009346592-2">La Joya, Texas</sbt> <p>2 HONORING LA JOYA'S MEXICAN CULTURE, KELL MUÑOZ ARCHITECTS CREATES AN OASIS OF COLOR IN A HOT BLEACHED LANDSCAPE.</p> <p>La Joya sits on a flat, featureless stretch of the Rio Grande Valley between Laredo and McAllen, Texas. Its name, “the jewel,” refers to a small natural lake west of town that early settlers claimed sparkled like a gem. But daily life is seldom so alluring. La Joya is a poor community of migrant workers and day laborers, who pick fruit, pour concrete, and look after the small ranches in the area. The dot-com boom of the 1990s was only a rumor here and in the rest of the valley.</p> <hd id="AN0009346592-3"> Program </hd> <p>The Ann Richards Middle School, designed by Kell Muñoz Architects, of San Antonio, and named for the state's tart-tongued former governor, captures both the reality and the resilience of the town. Its architecture is direct and pragmatic, yet also playful and visually exuberant. Stucco walls glow red, blue, green, mustard, and magenta, the colors of Mexico and the desert. Several are covered with cracked Italian tiles that seem to vibrate in the South Texas sun.</p> <p>School principal Judith Solis says it took time for the students to get used to the color. “Most schools are so bland that at first they were bewildered,” she recalls. “Students from other schools teased them about being in a theme park. We had to teach them that the color exists in the rocks and plants of this place, that it is part of who they are.”</p> <hd id="AN0009346592-4"> Solution </hd> <p>The heart of the school is a large open plaza, similar to those in the small Mexican towns from which many La Joya residents come. It is paved in concrete bricks, with a grid of live oak trees and a small pavilion, or kiosko, for festivals and performances. The plaza is the social and cultural center of the school, where students mingle between classes and return in the evenings and on weekends for special events. Former governor Richards, known to teachers and students as comadre, or godmother, bought the furniture for the plaza and often donates the honoraria from speaking engagements in the valley for books and programs.</p> <p>Kell Muñoz designed the school for 1,000 students, a number that has now grown to 1,250. All of them are Title I, and most are economically and linguistically disadvantaged, meaning that for them school is more than a place to learn English and math; it is a refuge and a sanctuary. “You won't find any graffiti here,” notes Ms. Solis, “because the kids have a real sense of ownership in the school. It connects them to their own culture and encourages them to feel good about themselves.” Each grade (six, seven, and eight) has its own classroom wing, long one-story rectangles with bright walls and black and white linoleum floors. Theater, dance, art, and music classes are held in adjacent buildings, which are linked by simple metal awnings that provide protection from the sun and rain. (La Joya is a center for mariachi music, and on many days visitors to the school are greeted by the sound of guitars and trumpets.) The gymnasium occupies a large, prefabricated metal building that fits the low-budget, ad hoc aesthetic of the school and the region.</p> <p>The architectural showpiece is the library, with its cracked tile walls and 20-foot hyperbolic paraboloid roof that rests on a single Mayan-style column in the center of the room. These bold forms were developed by Mexican architect Felix Candela and adapted by John Kell's mentor, O'Neil Ford, for schools and factories around Texas. They make the library a special place, where books and reading can open the door to the wider world.</p> <p> <bold> Commentary </bold> The school cost $9 million ($67 per square foot), and inevitably the economies show in some of the detailing. The paraboloid shells and the butt-glazed windows clearly stretched the contractors. But the architects' overall design is exactly right. La Joya needed a place that was intimate, lively, and welcoming, and the Ann Richards Middle School is all of those things—a source of pride and pleasure along a shifting cultural fault line.</p> <p> <bold> Architect: </bold> Kell Muñoz Architects—John H. Kell, Jr., FAIA, Henry R. Muñoz III, principals; Steven Land Tillotson, AIA, Henry Ortega, AIA, Benito Polendo, AIA, Manuel Hinojosa, AIA, Hector Gamboa, Carlos Rios, Baldemar Bernal, Carlos Mejia, team</p> <p> <bold> Client: </bold> La Joya Independent School District</p> <p> <bold> Consultants: </bold> Hinojosa Engineering (civil/structural); HMG & Associates (m/e/p); Alexander Boedy Associates (landscape)</p> <p> <bold> General contracting: </bold> Wilson Construction</p> <p> <bold> Size: </bold> 130,000 square feet</p> <p> <bold> Cost: </bold> $8.4 million</p> <hd id="AN0009346592-5"> Sources </hd> <p> <bold> Wood doors: </bold> Baur Flooring</p> <p> <bold> Glazing and metal doors: </bold> Polvado Glass</p> <p> <bold> Metal/glass curtain wall: </bold> Polvado Glass and Vistawell</p> <p> <bold> Hardware, aluminum storefronts, glass: </bold> MacLaird Glass</p> <p> <bold> Tile: </bold> Mion Terrazzo Tile and Marble</p> <p> <bold> Steel: </bold> Tri-City Steel Fabricators</p> <p> <bold> Brick: </bold> Valley Block and Brick</p> <p> <bold> Roofing: </bold> Sechrist-Hall Company</p> <p> <bold> Paint: </bold> Guerra's Paint Company</p> <p> <bold> www </bold> For more information about the people and products involved in this project, go to Building Types Study at architecturalrecord.com.</p> <p>PHOTO (COLOR):</p> <p>PHOTO (COLOR):</p> <p>PHOTO (COLOR):</p> <p>DIAGRAM:</p> <p>PHOTO (COLOR):</p> <p>PHOTOS (COLOR): A large open plaza, peppered with oak trees and a kiosko used for performances and festivals, functions as the social and cultural centerpiece of the school (opposite, left and right; below left two). Inside, the hallways feature bright walls and black and white linoleum floors (top right), and the library houses a single Mayan-style column that holds up the 20-foot roof (bottom right).</p> <aug> <p>Contributed by David Dillon, Contributing editor David Dillon is the architecture critic for The Dallas Morning News.</p> </aug>
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