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Design Awards
Volume 76, Issue 4 - Awards
Fall 2026

Awty International School Student Center

Lake Flato Architects

The Student Center at Awty International School redefines the heart of this urban campus and sets the direction for future growth. The three-story building replaces several outdated one-story structures, improving community connections and supporting expansion of Awty’s IB and French IB curricula. The LEED Gold project uses biophilic design to maintain visual and physical connections to a new central landscape that manages stormwater and enhances well-being. Students arrive along rain gardens leading to an outdoor dining porch overlooking the courtyard. Stacked inside are dining spaces along an open kitchen, a light-filled library, and a multipurpose lecture and recital hall with an event balcony. These community spaces are flanked by a science wing with laboratories and an academic wing with a maker/robotics lab, all connected by outdoor walkways and learning spaces that encourage connection.

“Students coming here are really coming to something quite sophisticated, well detailed, and thoughtful in terms of the kinds of spaces that are arrayed throughout the building—all flooded with abundant natural light and absent of the usual high school and junior high branding that we get in a lot of school systems around the United States.”  —James Timberlake, FAIA

View full Design Awards submission

Location
Houston
Client
Awty International School
Design Team 
Greg Papay, FAIA, Brandi Rickels, AIA, Danny Davy, AIA, Adie Hailat, AIA, Dan Lazarine, Patrick Burnham, Kelsey Alex, Deborah Lee
Contractor
Harvey Cleary
Structural Engineer
Datum Engineers
MEP Engineer
CMTA
Civil Engineer
Walter P Moore
Lab Planning
Research Facilities Design
Acoustics
SLR Consulting
Theater Design
Idibri (now Salas O’Brien)
Food Service
Worrell Design Group
AV/IT/Security
DataVox
Geotech/Survey
Terracon
Specifications
Long Green Specs
Landscape Architect
CARBO
Photographer
Lara Swimmer

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