Architectural Insight
Choosing a Site
With the old building closed and students and teachers conducting lessons at Webb Middle School, the architects could start conceptualizing what the new Metz school building would be. The architects on this project were family firm Clovis Heimsath Architects (now Heimsath Architects) and Ponciano Morales. At first, there were talks about moving the school to a brand new location, but the school district could only find one site that met their criteria, and it was too far away. So, the architects knew that they would be tearing down the old building and replacing it on-site. However, some of the project managers were worried that the site was not big enough, so they considered closing off a section of Canterbury Street and integrating the adjacent block into the new building site. The block in consideration was occupied by residences. Of course, to the members of the neighborhood, tearing down a block of residences was not a step they envisioned in the new Metz building. However, in order to keep Metz in the same location, many neighbors embraced the plan to add the block to the school site. Others were more hesitant and were sad that those families were being asked to tear down and give up their homes. Still, the plan moved forward. Some of the families on the block sold their property, and the school district purchased some of the residences through eminent domain.
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Finding a Direction
Then, once they set site location, the architects began to think about the design of the building. The big debate was how many elements of the old school the community wanted to keep for the new school. One thought was that sections of the old school should be incorporated into the new building to preserve its heritage. For example, they considered keeping the old outdoor theatre. Many community members, however, did not agree with this sentiment. To them, the history of the old building was a history of neglect by the school district. Lorraine "Grandma" Camacho expressed that this was a heritage they did not want to remember. Many community members wanted the state-of-the-art school building that Metz deserved. There was still pride in the fact that the school had a history and a legacy, but the community wanted a brand new school, so they got a brand new school.
Design Elements
So, the architecture team moved forward to create a traditional school with modern elements. Only two aspects of the old building remained for the new school: the bricks in the front courtyard and the block that reads "Metz School" in front of the building. The architects wanted to take inspiration from Metz's East Austin neighborhood for the design of the new building. For example, the details in the bricks for the school were based on the bricks at Shorty's Bar, a (now closed) nearby business on the corner of Robert T. Martinez St. and Cesar Chavez St. Also, since many community members were engaged with Metz, the architects faced the main entrance toward the porches of nearby houses, as well as authorized more funds to build a covering for the bus stop so that the neighbors, including Grandma Camacho, could watch the children arrive and leave school.
There were, however, outsiders to East Austin that wanted input into the design of the new building. Ben Heimsath, one of the architects on the project, recalls that some of the project managers did not want to new building to have windows for fear of vandalism. Of course, the community members opposed this idea, and the architects listened to the community, so the new Metz Elementary had plenty of windows.
By prioritizing the needs of the community, the architects and construction workers built the school building that Metz deserved. In fact, the building was so great that it won a design award from the American Institute of Architects.