ACC Rio Grande Campus Renovation recognized with prestigious Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award

Austin Community College Rio Grande Campus Renovation| San Antonio – Texas | 2021 

Architects: Overland Partners
Architects of Record: Studio8 Architects
Historic Preservation Architects: Architexas and Hutson Gallagher LLC.
Original Architect: Dennis R. Walsh (1916)
Landscape Architects: dwg
General Contractor: Bartlett Cocke General Contractors
Client: Austin Community College District
Photographers: Dror Baldinger

The Rio Grande campus has served Austin for over a century, originally as John T. Allan Jr. High, then a High School, and later as a central campus for Austin Community College (ACC). A revered Austin landmark and registered historic site, it enjoys a rich heritage of community education. The renovation builds on this legacy as a flagship campus for ACC and a leading center of post-secondary learning in Texas. More than a historic preservation project, the team was charged with reimagining the 108-year-old building to create a 21st-century campus that inspires, educates, enriches and prepares students from diverse backgrounds for success. The enclosure of two exterior lightwells was a major intervention that transformed the facility, turning this previously underutilized building into a light-filled public commons across four levels with equal access to natural sunlight. Atria are capped with a translucent ETFE roof system, allowing sunlight to penetrate the now-conditioned space below that mimics being outside.

This change not only provided a structurally innovative solution to enclosing the atria, but addressed student, staff, and faculty well-being and opened the building for better circulation. Where the original building had dead-end corridors, unused exterior space, boarded-up windows, and a challenged mechanical system, the renovated campus prioritizes connected learning, circulation, and daylight equity. A 169-seat Accelerator Lab, campus library, and Army Futures Software Factory create the campus’s central engine. Six high-tech science labs, classrooms for Gallaudet University’s deaf and hard-of-hearing students, study areas, and a cafeteria are situated around this engine for an activated, mixed-use campus.

The project achieved LEED Platinum status, due in large part to the preservation and reuse of the existing structure, and access to daylight, recycled water systems, low-e glass, eco-conscious finishes, chilled beam mechanical system, and sustainable sites initiatives for positive daily impact on end-users and low cost per square foot. ACC Rio Grande is designed for long-term, sustainable evolution. This renovation breathed new life into the Rio Grande campus. Classrooms, labs, and office spaces are now open and adaptable, suiting changing needs, and solar readiness of the roof allows ACC to pivot power production capacity.

The project addresses the ever-changing landscape of post-secondary education itself, allowing for continued learning in a future-forward facility with the well-being of its users at its core. With these renovations, ACC Rio Grande is positioned to educate, enrich, and prepare students with high-quality, affordable post-secondary learning opportunities and to continue serving the greater Austin community for decades to come.

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