It doesn’t seem that long ago that we finished construction of HISD’s Katherine Smith Elementary School Phase I. Here it is less than a year later and we’ve made a dent in Phase II. The two-story school will complete the building phases for the 10-acre campus for 900 students. Seeking LEED® certification, Phase II consists of 62,000 square feet of new building that includes the administrative area, library, cafeteria/multi-purpose room, athletic fields, parking, playgrounds, and the remaining classrooms not constructed during Phase I. This school is much larger than the typical HISD elementary school as the building square footage will total 98,000 square feet when the new Phase II is added to the recently completed 36,000 square foot classroom wings.

The project has been challenged by the need to remove the existing school, and locating temporary classroom and facility buildings on site prior to the start of construction. To accomplish this, Phase II work has been designed to be a more compact facility with a phased completion to allow the campus to continue to operate throughout the school year. The benefit to this compact design is that when the building opens and the temporary buildings are removed, the campus is left with large, open green space for the athletic fields and playground areas.