IN THE SPOTLIGHT

摘要

A1.32-acre city block in downtown Houston is now home to a new five-story magnet school. The new Kinder High School replaces a two-story, 63,000-sf building in this city's eclectic Montrose neighborhood. The original building dated back to the early 1980s but had maxed out its ability to accommodate more students or integrated technologies. Kinder High School, which can accommodate 750 9th through 12th graders, is one of only three public schools in the U.S. that offer programs for both visual and performing arts. It has six distinct areas of education and training: vocal music, instrumental music, dance, theater, visual arts, and creative writing. The construction of the new school was funded, in part, by the city's 2012 bond program, supplemented by a $10 million capital campaign and a $7.5 million donation from the Kinder Foundation, a long-time booster of the school, in return for the naming rights. At one time, the master plan for this project envisioned a 200,000-sf building. But after several working sessions with end-users, the project team found programming overlaps that allowed for a rightsizing of certain spaces without sacrificing elements or functions. Not surprisingly, a top priority for the project was the integration of audio-visual and acoustical technologies in a building with so many interspersed performance, practice, and learning spaces. For example, the high school has 16 sound isolation practice rooms. Each of the rooms throughout the school is equipped with the latest in technical theater and A/V recording features. Theaters and rehearsal rooms share tech spaces.