Palo Alto Middle School



Killeen, Texas

The vision of this fast-growing school district supported a methodical restructuring of education from early childhood through secondary and beyond.

Several fundamental goals of the district’s unique and highly transient population became the basis for planning and design and embraced future instructional technology.

• Create smaller communities, (houses) for learning within the larger school
• Foster a team environment for delivering instruction
• Respond to the social development needs of young adolescents
• Facilitate the changing role of the teacher

The plan of the school is organized around a dramatic central axis corridor. This corridor is a dominant feature providing clear orientation and a sense of place that is often absent in school facilities. This supervisable corridor marks the dividing line between the “houses” and facilities that are shared or public. The new middle school accommodates approximately 800 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students.

K-12 Projects