The Harris County Department of Education Adult Education Center provides adult literacy and workforce development programs. The programs help students acquire the skills they need to earn a high school equivalency diploma, enter college, or succeed in their careers.
Students can choose a variety of courses and programs to complete their GED, learn how to become a U.S. citizen, or learn English. Students can also choose from a range of workforce certification programs, such as Medical Assistant, Certified Nursing Assistant, Phlebotomy, Medical Billing and Coding, Business Office Technology, Front Office Specialist, and Customer Service.
To expand this important program, HCDE partnered closely with cre8 Architects to design a new, state-of-the-art Adult Education Center on a site replacing several aging buildings in an established residential neighborhood. Although the new four-story building has a 400-student capacity, it serves a total of 1,200 students by offering morning, afternoon, and evening classes to cater to different student circumstances.
The facility has multiple amenities, including 17 classrooms, technology labs, administrative offices, and three multipurpose rooms. The third-floor student lounge connects the two classroom wings and has large windows with wide views of the surrounding neighborhood. Here students can gather, warm up meals, get a cup of coffee or grab something out of the vending machine. HCDE, committed to being a strong and supportive neighbor, also wanted the three large multipurpose rooms to be on the first floor and making them accessible to surrounding community organizations for meetings and activities.
Two large, commissioned murals, that involved spray paint and street art techniques, introduce a massive splash of color in the lobbies. The “Goddess of Grit,” a three-story mural of a determined woman with her arm extended upward, is the Adult Education Center’s symbol of resilience and the ability to overcome challenges.
Fitting this large program on a small site, with large mature oak trees, while complying with the City of Houston parking and flood detention requirements was a major project challenge. The site detention is located below grade beneath the surface parking area. An open parking garage was necessary to meet the required number of parking spaces, providing an added benefit of covered parking for students and staff. After presenting seven different design concepts, HCDE decided on one that met all its programmatic needs and conveyed a contemporary design aesthetic that positions the Adult Education Center as an excellent learning facility.
