The Hockaday School – Liza Lee Academic Research Center (ARC) Renovation

This award winning 54,000 SF Academic Research Center for the prestigious Hockaday School was originally done by GFF with Overland Partners of San Antonio in 2001. Since then, the transition from print to digital media allowed consolidation of library stacks and left valuable areas of the building under-utilized.

This project inserted a new 2,500 SF mezzanine extension along the northern edge of the existing double height library space. This “loft” space provides the new home for the school’s journalism department, and a new classroom suite below the mezzanine houses the debate department. Space vacated up by these relocations was renovated into a new digital photography/audio lab, broadcast suite and film studies classrooms.

The new mezzanine addition integrates seamlessly with the existing building. Clad in glass, the addition is a transparent and complimentary element within the existing double-height library space.