NOT EMBEDDED TA24-S-O-Pages-copy - Flipbook - Page 91
Sánchez Elementary is an urban school in a rapidly
gentrifying Latino neighborhood adjacent to downtown Austin. During this renovation project, neighborhood pride and community spirit emerged as
critical themes, as did the concept of linkage. The
building9s circulation was reorganized with a spine
connecting new exterior canopies at existing entry
points to major interior gathering spaces, and the
orst and second noors were connected by repurposing an underused internal courtyard into a learning stair. The school9s past was similarly tied to its
future through the incorporation of key artifacts
like murals, mosaics, and portraits and creative
reinterpretation of existing motifs and symbols.
An existing double-headed serpent mosaic inspired
undulating banded slats that wrap communal
spaces and extend through the roof, and the original hexagonal tile facade pattern was reinterpreted
at larger scale for ceilings and walls.
9/10 2024
Texas Architect 89
