St. Johns School Breaks Ground on Curtis & Windham Designed New Campus Center
Houston, TX (PRWEB) June 09, 2014 -- In a ceremonial ground breaking held on April 22, the St. John’s School of Houston officially kicked off construction of its new Campus Center.
Designed by Curtis & Windham in association with Kendall/Heaton Associates as Architect of Record, the new building complex and landscape will enhance the campus experience for the St. John’s School community. The Curtis & Windham/Kendall/Heaton team was commissioned in December of 2010 to design the project after a thorough vetting process.
“We studied the archetypal campuses of Europe and the United States. We also analyzed the existing St. John’s campus buildings and their relationship to the neighborhood. Our aim is to make the intervention seem inevitable. A space that fits into the school, the neighborhood, and the city itself to make it seem like it had been planned that way all along,” said William Curtis, co-founder of the Houston based firm.
“We have expanded our knowledge about “traditional” architecture materials and details and learned how to incorporate them into an efficient 21st century building. Kendall/Heaton Associates appreciates the opportunity to work on new building types with new Design Architects for great clients like St. John’s School,” says Larry Burns of Kendall/Heaton Associates.
“We are thrilled to be part of creating a new heart for the campus of St. John’s,” says Russell Windham, who along with Bill Curtis has children that attend the school. “The challenge here is to build at an institutional scope – yet work on a personal scale. Satisfying the needs of the community while making this a space that speaks to each person that interacts with the campus - to work at that level, now that is invigorating.” William Curtis adds, school administrators, students, faculty and staff led by Headmaster Mark Desjardins were integral to the development of the project to date. “A continued partnership with St John’s along with Kendall/Heaton’s immense technical expertise, Windham says, “is key to the continued success of this project.”
St. John’s School is posting updates on the school website (sjs.org) on the progress of the Campus Center Project in addition to a video narrated in part by Russell Windham and Bill Curtis about the design itself. Renderings of the project can be found on the Curtis & Windham’s website.
About Curtis & Windham Architects, Inc.: Founded in 1992 in Houston by Bill Curtis and Russell Windham, Curtis & Windham Architects encompasses a general architectural practice along with landscape and interior design studios.
Built upon a deep respect and knowledge of architectural tradition, the firm follows principals of traditional and classical design to provide for the needs of a contemporary civic and private life.
For more information on Curtis & Windham visit http://www.curtisandwindham.com/our-approach.html.
1. St. John’s Groundbreaking Ceremony: http://www.sjs.org/page/News?pk=709977
2. St. John’s Campus Center Project: http://www.sjs.org/Page/Campus-Expansion/The-Campus-Center-Project
3. Curtis & Windham project renderings: http://www.curtisandwindham.com/project.html?pid=52&gid=16&iid=1320
Annatina Aaronson, Curtis & Windham, http://www.curtisandwindham.com/, +1 713.942.7251, [email protected]
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