Year
Spring 2021
Category
architecture
Honoring the memory of the Montopolis School
For my integrative studio project at UT Austin School of Architecture, I had a the joy of partnering with my classmate Doug Shay to creat a design for a proposed historic preservation project of the Montopolis School building. This building is in the Montopolis neighborhood of Austin and was a segregated black school in the early and mid 20th century before finding a second life as a church building for a black congregation.
Program and design solutions
In addition to a proposal of the preservation of the schoolhouse, the program called for a cultural center with art gallery space. We decided to create a sunken plaza that surorunded a portion of the school building and create a flexible art gallery space out of rammed earth walls.
View of historic school and walking paths.
Exterior elevation of museum and visitor center.
Plaza sunken below grade showing the seating area and rammed earth.
Interior section of the gallery.
Interior section showing the below grade seating area.