Marietta High School College & Career Academy

Marietta, Georgia

Firm

Breaux & Associates Architects

Client

Marietta City Schools

Area

55,140 sq.ft.

Total Cost

$12,600,000

Completion Date

12/2019

Karl Moore Photography, Douglas McGukin

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Design Team
Kate Fijalkowska, AIA (Project Manager); Jessica Winstead (Lead Designer); R.K. Redding Construction Inc. (Construction Manager)

When the Marietta City school system was considering new college and career pathways, the businesses, industry, and colleges from the close-knit community partnered to help prepare students to successfully enter the workforce or transition into postsecondary education. From conception, Marietta’s College & Career Academy was centered on a philosophy of flexibility and collaboration; the result is a new three-story addition on the high school campus.

The College and Career Academy was designed as a free-standing addition to be integrated into Marietta High School’s existing campus. Guests enter the expansive core through the façade while students circulate over a two-tiered open-air bridge from the adjacent high school. Situated between the existing campus and the new addition is a courtyard with artificial turf. The uppermost level of the academy consists of a mezzanine ringed by a wall of interior glazing, emoting a sense of transparency and interaction while creating an impactful, collaborative environment. This mezzanine leads to a roof terrace, offering alfresco study and learning with views of the campus. At the mid-level of the addition, students, teachers, and guests are welcomed into an interactive space lined with mounted screens and a student-run coffee bistro.

Designed on a grid or bay system, like sub-dividable lease space, the academy provides flexibility in the size and layout of classrooms or labs. With self-contained lighting, power and HVAC, and marker-surface stud-framed demising walls, spaces can be adjusted in size and function. As Chuck Gardner, Marietta’s COO, sums up: “The addition enhances the academic experience of students by providing a technology-rich, collaborative, and modular design that is highly adaptive. The job market students are entering is rapidly changing, and this design allows for us to be responsive to those changes and adequately prepare our students.”