Lake|Flato Architects
Fort Worth’s oldest co-ed college-preparatory school is celebrating the groundbreaking of a new state-of-the-art lower school with a price tag of $25 million. This new structure, the Annie Richardson Bass Lower School, will replace Fort Worth Country Day’s existing lower school, which was originally built in 1964. This new 32,720-square-foot structure will reside on FWCD’s 104-acre wooded campus at 4200 Country Day Lane in southwest Fort Worth, according to a release.
This new structure will include a modern, light-filled, indoor-outdoor learning environment that can easily hold 350 students that range in grades 1 through 4. Besides the Implementation of natural light in this new structure, tuned acoustics and some upgraded tech are also in the plans for this build. The new technology being placed inside the school will help expand the school’s delivery of future-focused experiences and activities for students to utilize.
This includes a 2,130-square-foot library with floor-to-ceiling windows, a fireplace, reading nooks, adaptive furniture, soft seating, and sliding glass doors that open to an outdoor courtyard built around a giant chinkapin oak tree. Other upgrades include two dedicated science labs, a collaboratory/makerspace, and study rooms for tutoring and smaller breakout sessions.
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The wings that make-up this new structure will include covered outdoor learning spaces, as well as a playground with a sports court and play structures.
The building itself will include skylights, light shelves, LED lighting, rainwater collection, and drought-tolerant landscaping with native shrubs, grasses, and water-conservation technologies. Inside the classrooms and learning spaces, students will also have access to flat screen displays.
Lake|Flato Architects
Student safety is another important aspect being implemented in this new lower school’s construction. This includes brand new communications and security platforms with digital signage, two-way paging, a high-tech intercom system, and proximity-controlled exterior doors. In case of an emergency, faculty and students will also have a dedicated safety shelter in the commons area, with windows and walls built to withstand 250 MPH winds in the event of a major storm or tornado.
But the students aren’t the only ones getting some new digs. Offices for academic support coordinators, health and wellness counselors, as well as faculty/staff meeting rooms, and multiple communal and collaborative spaces are also in this structure’s plans.
Heading up the design and construction on this new building project is San Antonio-based Lake|Flato Architects. Dallas-based Hocker Design is in charge of the landscape architecture along with Fort Worth-based Linbeck as general contractor. The estimated completion date for this new lower school is set for the spring of 2025.
“Our new Lower School is designed to create exceptional learning environments within classrooms and communal spaces while delivering dramatic improvements for safety and efficiency,” said Eric Lombardi, head of school at FWCD in a release. “It will have a strong connection to our campus’s amazing outdoors, while also giving our faculty and students first-class spaces to inspire the highest level of elementary-appropriate learning.”
