Greenhill School, Rosa O. Valdes STEM + Innovation Center Featured in Texas Architect
In an article for the magazine’s spring 2025 issue, Michael Malone, FAIA writes about the process of creating an open and flexible STEM building that responds to campus context.
"Designed with the intent to serve science and technology education, the Valdes Center also is an important reminder that the life around us can be enhanced and rewarded with the creation of thoughtful buildings that encourage and communicate the importance of our environment for our everyday lives."
The Rosa O. Valdes Stem + Innovation Center is a new home for upper and middle school math, science, and innovation at Greenhill School, an independent K12 school in the north Dallas suburb of Addison. As Michael Malone, FAIA writes in Wood-n’t You Know?, the project was conceived as a STEM classroom and lab building that would “set the standard for STEM education” in the region.
Malone explores Greenhill’s noteworthy architectural heritage and the early planning process for the project, from a project vision statement co-created by Greenhill and BCJ, to building materials that tie to Greenhill’s campus and help achieve the desired openness, flexibility, and tactile sustainability. In the Valdes STEM + Innovation Center’s central commons, “one of the most beautiful rooms in Dallas,” mass timber, natural light, and views of the sheltered interior courtyard provide the perfect backdrop for gathering, talks, and presentations. Malone notes that “with the incorporation of rainwater harvesting, the courtyard becomes a spatial and experiential ambassador, getting Greenhill’s lower school students excited about the STEM offerings.” Brick in a variety of patterns and textures also relates to the masonry heritage of the surrounding campus.
The project team includes OJB Landscape Architecture, Scott + Reid, Walter P. Moore, DBR Engineering Consultants, Westwood, Metropolitan Acoustics, and Holmes Keogh, with photography by Nic Lehoux. Read the article in full below.
