Austin Community College Rio Grande Campus

Size: 140,00SF
Owner: Austin Community College District

Originally constructed in 1916 and expanded in 1925, the historic John T. Allan High School was taken over by Austin Community College in 1975 and is the oldest of ACC’s eight campus locations. After a century of use, ACC decided to transform this building with a monumental renovation to repurpose and update the campus. While the exterior of the building was restored to its original glory, substantial structural reconfiguration of the interior made way for state-of-the-art learning facilities and a new home for the U.S. Army Futures Command Software Factory

Structural modifications included demolition of existing floors, underpinning of foundations and excavations of new basement floor levels to accommodate a multi-level, 169-seat learning lab and library. Two exterior courtyards were enclosed and covered with long-span, pneumatically prestressed ETFE foil cushion tensile roof structures, transforming them into large common indoor areas, filled with natural light.