Delgado River City Campus

Delgado’s new River City Campus is located on a 10.4-acre site in Avondale, a city historically known for shipbuilding. The design for this new facility was inspired by its context, including Delgado’s City Park campus, the Avondale shipyard, and the surrounding local architecture. Approaching the site, you are greeted by an earth-toned, masonry façade that mimics the material palette found at the City Park campus. The large, covered entry element welcomes visitors with a masonry arch, which is then translated into ornamental, structural arch trusses that sail through the entry lobby following a similar rhythm to a ship’s ribbed framing. The ribs are the structure for the building, giving it shape and strength, similar to the ship’s frame. The structure of this building is also emphasized through the exterior masonry pilasters and metal fins. The fins allow for the attachment of shading devices where needed and will act as gutters that will guide roof water into the courtyard’s bio-swales. The rhythm is further emphasized through the brick colonnade entry and the staggered paving throughout the courtyard. The material palette for the sides and rear facades are earth-toned masonries and corrugated metal panels, further bringing light to this building’s industrial program. The new campus design promotes Delgado’s mission to provide an environment centered on learning that will prepare students for their future.

Xavier South Building

The project reimagines the north side of Xavier South and the existing parking lot to create a more inviting and dignified entrance to the building, screen the existing mechanical equipment, and visually integrate the structure with the other campus buildings, using common building materials, lighting, and landscaping.

The existing parking lot was reduced in size to create a new pedestrian plaza in front of the main entrance. The plaza was covered with the same concrete pavers that were used in Phase I of the Art Mall on the historic campus. It includes low height brick masonry walls that screen the existing mechanical equipment, and also define shaded seating areas with benches and space for bike racks. Planting areas and trees were interspersed throughout the new plaza to soften the hard edges and provide shade.

A new canopy was designed to cover the entrance doors, and give an updated look to the circa 1950’s office building. Blonde brick and bronze-colored metal, similar to the materials palette used at the new entrance arch on Drexel Drive, helps to visually tie Xavier South to the rest of campus, and updated building signage will clearly mark the entry.

A new paved walkway stretches from the plaza, along Dixon Street, and toward S. Clark Street. The walkway mimics the first phase of the Art Mall, using the same pavers, patterning, and lighting fixtures. 

Two landscaped islands were added, and a crosswalk was added to connect the new plaza with the student fitness center next door.

St. Ann Early Childhood Center New School Addition

The project consisted of a new Early Childhood Classroom Addition for the expanding two-year old program. The new 3,900 sq. ft. space provides (2) new additional classrooms outfitted with private entrance drive, reception, play areas and restroom facilities. Daylighting is maximized through a number of north facing windows. The architecture and decor are playful and appealing through the use of color and pattern graphics.

Northshore Technical Community College

H/S Architects prepared the bridging documents for this project. The new Northshore Technical Community College campus will focus primarily on Science, Technology, Engineering & Math. This facility will be called the STEM Center and will be located in a new development in Lacombe, Louisiana. Adjacent to the STEM Center will be the Advanced Technology Center, which is also part of NTCC. In addition to these NTCC facilities, the master planned development will also include other facilities such as a town center, offices, warehouses and housing developments, which will provide a collaboration between parish government, private companies, and individuals. The types of spaces included in the STEM Center include an administrative area, an open common space serving as a center for innovation, academic classrooms and laboratories, faculty offices, and flexible meeting spaces such as large meeting rooms that can be utilized to hold lectures, conferences, and other activities that support the STEM curriculum.

The STEM Center is a place to foster innovation, education, and technology in an academic environment. It serves as a place of gathering, study, research, active learning, and collaboration.

Xavier University Pedestrian Art Mall & Gallery

The Pedestrian Art Mall at Xavier University reorganizes the historic core of the campus along a central pedestrian walkway, and includes small plazas, seating areas, and landscaping to enhance the student experience. The walkway will eventually be lined with sculptures from Xavier’s extensive collection of African-American art, and occasionally highlight work from its student art programs. A modern indoor art gallery was created inside the historic Administration Building to showcase a revolving collection of visiting and student works. A new campus gateway on Drexel Drive was constructed to mark the main entrance to campus, and act as a beacon to the surrounding neighborhood.

West Feliciana Middle School

The 89,000 sq. ft. campus is located in the expanding historic community of St. Francisville, Louisiana. The planning and forms of the campus are abstracted from the antebellum agrarian estates which dot the countryside – The big house (classroom building), outbuildings (cafeteria) and the barn (gymnasium). The three primary buildings are arrayed around a wooded hollow and a picturesque pond. The classroom building is organized around the synergistic concept of team teaching in which classrooms are grouped around exploratory areas. Generous spaces, durable materials and sophisticated technological features create a high quality learning environment that is sensitive to the local vernacular.

Southeastern Louisiana University: Pursley Hall

The expansion to the existing chemistry and physics building for Southeastern Louisiana University includes 8 new advanced laboratories, 2 stairwells, expressed with curved glass block forms, and an embracing entry forecourt with circular drive. The forms of the addition respond to the Art Deco influence on the campus and blend into the existing modernist building to create an addition that is harmonious. Strong focal elements are created to address the functional requirements of the fire stairs and the accessible rooftop mechanical penthouse.

Southeastern Louisiana University: Fayard Hall

The 96,500 sq. ft. multi-use classroom/ computer lab is designed to meet the needs of the rapidly growing Southeastern Louisiana University. Three large lecture halls, three open computer labs, 24 classrooms and over 100 faculty offices serve four departments. The design is intended to create a gateway to the campus through its covered entranceway, form a strong edge for a new quadrangle and mediate between the primary contextual references of Art Deco and late Modernism.

Southeastern Louisiana University Charles E. Cate Teacher Education Center

The project consists of an addition and renovation to the late modernist Lab School & Teacher Education building designed in the 1970’s by prolific Louisiana modern architect John Desmond. The addition is comprised of 35,050 sq. ft. of spaces programmed as classrooms, distance learning labs, faculty offices and a 125 seat lecture hall. Special attention is given to formally and contextually link the street facade to the existing modern design. As the program develops into functions which are new to the building, the form, materials and plan begin to diverge. The end of the street facade is anchored by a masonry mass which is shifted 10 degrees from the purely pragmatic original building grid. The campus facade, also shifted 10 degrees and almost entirely glass, uses metal clad vertical fins to provide shading from the eastern sun. A spinal saw tooth corridor becomes a spatial dialogue between the classroom functions and the faculty departments. This spatial theme is intended to reinforce interaction between faculty and student teachers.

Phillis Wheatley Elementary

This FEMA funded building serves as an improved replacement of the existing school and includes cutting edge technology related to education. The design and construction integrates within the Treme neighborhood. The $25.75 M project is anticipated to be LEED Silver and includes a 100,000 sq. ft. facility on the existing site. The elementary school provides multiple educational delivery systems including self contained instruction, team teaching, thematic instruction, and departmental organization. The building is organized to support team teaching in order to address year to year changes in educational approaches. The Pre-K through 8th grade is organized in zones to define schools-within -schools and small learning facilities.  The new school includes a 9500 sq. ft. gymnasium on the second floor with seating for 450 people. The seating consists of retractable bleacher sections on both sides of the multi-purpose gym sports floor, which fold up against the walls when not in use. The sports floor is set-up for basketball and volleyball configurations with folding basketball goals, storable volleyball equipment, a scoreboard, and PA system. Adjacent support spaces include Boys’ and Girls’ Locker rooms, Team Locker rooms, Public restrooms, Concessions, and Equipment Storage. The Second Floor of the new school also incorporates a Music/Performance room of approximately 2400 sq. ft. The room has operable walls which allow the space to provide a Music classroom and a Choir classroom in one configuration, and a ‘Black Box’ Theater in another configuration. Operable wall panels allow for the space to have the multiple configurations. When the operable wall panels are stacked to the sidewalls for the theater configuration, the platform stage panels will be brought out from an adjacent storage room and set up. A pipe grid for stage lighting is provided, along with a sound system for live performances and recitals.

O.W. Dillon Elementary

The new O.W. Dillon Elementary School incorporates several innovative strategies to create optimal learning environments. The initial challenge was not solely to provide a standard educational facility but also to re-evaluate the space-planning that activated the school and increase the contact time between educators and students. With O.W. Dillion Elementary School being in an underserved community, the proposed solution to this challenge was focusing the design process towards leadership and empowerment.

To enable the building to become an integral tool for learning, with the help of the school administration, H/S developed a theme for O.W. Dillon Elementary based on leadership by incorporating graphics, quotes, and spaces dedicated to local, national, and global leaders. H/S reached out to community members and students, asking them to submit quotes from their favorite heroes and leaders to create the graphics that would be displayed throughout the school. Seeing the quotes daily will instill a level of discovery and encouragement for students from pre-k- 6th grade. Involving the community to take ownership of their school not only empowered the community but activated the school with a spirit of strength for future young minds and educators.

The New Elementary School for O.W Dillon Elementary provides learning facilities for approximately 500 students in grades pre-k through 6th. The plan’s layout is separated into three wings, each of which is anchored by a large programmatic function; administration, media center, and cafetorium. Because of the significantly contoured site, the three wings are incrementally stepped down a hill. The wings are connected with transparent ramped corridors. Each of these helps create a courtyard space used as an outdoor hard surface play area. The classrooms are particularly special because of their “fat-L” configuration. This layout allows for flexibility in learning environments and various activity areas. The corridors are widened periodically to allow for “out of class” activity space and display area. The exterior design capitalizes on the expressive qualities of brick detailing, as Kentwood is widely known for is brick production industry.

Mandeville High School Administration Addition

Holly and Smith Architects’ third project on this existing high school campus, this new 13,000 sq. ft. addition is intended to serve multiple purposes. The addition creates a new entrance to an aging campus and serves to tie the front portion of the campus together through materiality and form. The main building provides approximately 8,000 sq. ft. for new school administration offices and reception spaces, as well as student services and counseling areas. The floor plan operates in function to separate and provide a greater degree of privacy between these areas. The administration areas are separated from the existing portion of the school by a large, linear corridor with exposed structural columns, perforated metal ceilings and polished concrete flooring. This corridor serves as the main student entry into the central portion of the existing school campus and will serve as an indoor commons area with linear bench seating the full length of the corridor. Existing administration offices will be reconfigured and renovated to accommodate a computer lab and a new broadcasting studio for a growing program. Additionally, a new gymnasium lobby was constructed to complete the entry facade. This serves as a pre-function space to the existing gymnasium and provides for a greater degree of control for visitor entry during events into the gymnasium. The design strategy increases green space by providing an enlarged commons area which also provides a greater degree of security by isolating the student commons from open interface with a large parking lot to the north. Total square footage of addition is approx. 10,690.

LaPlace Elementary Renovations and Additions

The LaPlace Elementary School is a 2-story 55,000 sq. ft. new masonry school building. The new building houses the administration, the media center, the new kitchen and cafeteria as well as 26 classrooms. The school was designed and planned on an existing school campus and included the demolition of the existing school structures in a separate contract, and the coordination / location of temporary classroom facilities. The intent of the design was to maximize the potential of the building, functionally and aesthetically, within the limited budget. A library, computer labs, 2 resource classrooms, 2 computer labs, and a science lab are all part of the new school, and through the design H/S was able to separate the four grade levels (3rd – 6th grades) through a long corridor while sharing infrastructure and resources. On the north side of the new building, a quadrangle is proposed to maximize green space for outdoor activities and a learning environment. Construction is expected to be completed in November 2011.

John Curtis Christian School Lower Education Complex

Construction was completed in January 2013 for the John Curtis Christian School – New Educational Complex located on the Lower School Campus in River Ridge, LA. The project serves as a replacement for two previously demolished original buildings, which were damaged during hurricanes Katrina and Gustov.

The new two story, 26,000 sq. ft. facility offers 14 new classrooms to the campus, in addition to a new resource library, administration department, support space, kitchen and dining area. The new facility provides a state of the art teaching facility, geared to focus on the early education and developmental stages of John Curtis students, in addition to enhancing the schools visual presence and identity along Jefferson Highway.

The design for the new complex was provided by Holly and Smith Architects and is the culmination of several years of effort. Previous phases associated with this campus project involved the installation of modular classroom buildings, which were erected over the 2009 summer break.

Mandeville High School Classroom Addition

The structure is located on the Mandeville High School Campus. It is tightly squeezed into one of the last remaining open spaces within the campus between two existing buildings of highly contrasting types of architecture. Location and context dictated the need to complete this portion of the campus through orientation, form and materiality by incorporating the brick, CMU and varying types of metals. Orientation hurdles were overcome by incorporating an aluminum solar screening element supported by an exposed steel roof structure. The linear nature of the building was a response to the need for required parking and narrow site constraints. Moveable walls, repetitive millwork and uniform fenestration were used on the interior to allow for future reconfiguration of classroom spaces.

Fontainebleau Jr. High Classroom Replacement

Phase I consisted of the demolition of two portable classroom wings and replacing them with two permanent structures tied into existing, head-end structures. The new buildings, totaling over 13,400 sq. ft., are clad in a combination ground face concrete block and prefinished metal panels. A series of aluminum outriggers supports the deep roof overhangs around each building’s perimeter, while multiple skylights and cuplolas provide multitudes of soft, natural sunlight throughout each building.

Phase II consisted of the demolition of five existing portable classroom buildings and construction of 50,000 sq. ft. of new permanent classroom and enrichment buildings. The new buildings interact with the existing head-in buildings and complete the campuses radial design.

Copper Mill Elementary

A new 26 classroom school in Zachary Louisiana houses 4th and 5th grades only. This new school is equipped with a multimedia room, library, cafetorium, special education, and music room functions. The school, from a design perspective, serves as the point of departure in a system wide effort of all of the area’s school renovations.

Avoyelles Public Charter School

A Public Charter School including a new classroom, administration building, gymnasium and state-of-the-art performing arts facility. This was a high school expansion of an existing elementary public charter school. Three new facilities (along with existing) frame a new quadrangle. Traditional and modern materials are combined to express a regional modernism with roots in the community.

The project goal was to take the school’s past, vision, existing buildings and educational reputation and create a campus that inspires and facilitates student learning and achieving. Furthermore, it was to Design a facility which demonstrates to students and faculty that inanimate building materials can awaken students and visitors to the limitless joy of life-long learning.

On axis with the main entry to the site, the main classroom building provides a gateway to the campus and creates an iconic anchor point for the school. The new structures in conjunction with the existing facilities create a new quadrangle and student gathering area which also serves as an amphitheater for outdoor functions and performances. Primary materials for the expanded campus include brick masonry, steel wall panels, and glass curtain walls. Brick retaining walls border the quadrangle while galvanized steel canopies provide weather protection for pedestrians. The performing arts building is the centerpiece of the new campus with an entry plaza designed as an outdoor stage complete with lighting and sound controls. A bell tower structure provides an axial connection between the gymnasium, performing arts buildings, a future building site, and the bus loading area. Clerestory windows provide natural lighting within the gymnasium.

A library, reading areas and a student commons area occupy the iconic space of the classroom building. Primary vertical circulation is achieved by a centralized monumental stair made of painted steel and cast stone. Warm wood tones soften the scale of the lobby academic areas. Stained concrete was utilized within all of the new facilities as a low maintenance and sustainable finish. Natural daylight and bright finishes within the gymnasium reflect the energy and excitement of athletic activities. The lobby also functions as a cafeteria serving area for the high school students.

Sumner District Middle School

A new facility on an existing campus containing: administration, multipurpose room, library, locker rooms, computer lab, serving area, 15 classrooms, 3 team teaching rooms, 3 science labs. The Tangipahoa Parish School System was in need of a new school building to house three grade levels of middle school aged children in the town of Kentwood, Louisiana. A long narrow, dramatically contoured site had been obtained directly west of the current high school presenting the opportunity to share infrastructure and resources. The facility was required to separate the grade levels while allowing utilization of the gym, library, computer lab and administration. The client also requested that the facility be organized in a manner that allowed for easy monitoring of the activities and safety of the students.

The design team decided that it would be important to incorporate design cues in the form of materials and structure from the existing high school campus. This created a more homogenous and balanced environment. The visitors and students alike are greeted with a protective entry canopy constructed of glue laminated timbers supported from the exposed wood beams making up the vaulted roof structure. The plan consists of four pods of differing functions. The first pod on the south of the property houses the administration functions of the school. As you continue north down the corridor, the singular structure to the east is the multi-purpose pod. Here you will find a gym and associated spaces. With the proximity of the high school, the client decided that a single purpose cafeteria and kitchen was not needed. With this in mind, the multi-purpose room is equipped with a serving area and can perform double duty, having meals delivered from the neighboring cafeteria.

The three wings off of the west side of the corridor contain classroom functions. Each pod contains 5 classrooms, a science lab, restrooms and a team teaching room. The narrow aspects of the site can be seen in the width of the administration building and entrance. Originally viewed as a weakness this ultimately developed into a design allowing for a single main corridor creating easy viewing from a single location of all activities within the common circulation. Asphalt shingles, stucco, dark stained beams and brick all come together to tie the new building into the existing high school. The brick was chosen for its similarities to the existing as well as being manufactured locally in Kentwood, Louisiana. Clear anodized corrugated metal panels were chosen to emulate the surrounding agricultural structures in a more refined manner. The Fibonacci Sequence was used as a playful way to relate the fenestrations to the varying heights of the students. This sequence, which is described as each number being the sum of the two preceding numbers, is also the basis of the well known Golden Spiral. While the windows may seem whimsical in location, they hint at a deeper mathematical concept for the children to explore.