Lubbock ISD—Anita Carmona-Harrison Elementary School
Architect: Parkhill
At Carmona-Harrison Elementary School, through exploration of agriculture, science, technology, engineering, and math, students will develop agency and 21st-century skills that will empower them to shape their futures.
Design
The school’s design came from the minds of the community and educators. Through many meetings, common bonds and connections established the basic foundations of the new campus. Community spaces lie at the heart of the school, centralized to keep the academic neighborhoods close to everything maintaining the “small-school feel.” Generous glazing promotes school friendliness, opportunity, and the idea of one new community.
Value
The new campus is on a brownfield site adjacent to an archeologically significant lake system rich with human history dating back to prehistoric Paleoamerican culture. This history lent itself to many educational opportunities to reach outside the school campus were planned.
Innovation
While the robust site selection process was one of history and culture, other critical aspects went into the final site location. Since the new school consolidated three neighborhoods, the design team analyzed family travel distance in time and distance, along with freight train activity on a railway that bisected the area. Another factor included first responder access and timeliness.
Community
As some of the oldest communities in the school district, the design gained strength and trust throughout our community and educator meetings. These meetings generated cultural aspects of the new building, such as its masonry colors and patterns. To represent the native American and Hispanic cultures of the original place, local murals, pottery, and other aspects of the community were studied and applied in the final design.
Planning
The design team involved all three communities in various events and activity-based design meetings from beginning to end. While this campus serves as the first fully collaborative, 21st Century, ag-stem-based school in the district, the process of designing the school was also a catalyst for bringing these communities together.”
School Transformation
A great circle of influence ultimately led to the success of this project. Transforming this place of history to become a place for the future while connecting the threads of time and maintaining the fabric of history, culture, and society. The connections at and within this place will not only build the community today but also establish a lasting legacy for future students.
Star of Distinction Category Winner