Columbia Heights Learning Center

Education was key to Alamo Architects’ design for the City of San Antonio’s Columbia Heights Learning and Leadership Development Center.

To be used as an adult education center in a neighborhood where illiteracy is as high as 80 percent, the building itself needed to dispel negative notions about learning. Not just a collection of classrooms, Columbia Heights transcends schoolhouse stereotypes with its respect for the community and its residents. With its subtle references to a neighboring 1950s elementary school. the building both harmonizes with the community and advances the idea of a modern education center for adults.

Lighthearted images including computer-patterned glazed brick and a hovering, tree-like green roof make the building inviting. A clerestory inside illuminates and enlivens a central gathering space. An exterior mural, created by neighborhood children further knits the building into the fabric of the community.

Client> City Of San Antonio
Construction Cost> $650,000
Completion> July 1992