Key Project Attributes
- Grades: 9-12
- Capacity: 1,000
- Scope: Addition and Renovation
- Size: 43,000 square feet (addition), 14,000 square feet (renovation)
- Completion: 2023
Modernizing a Century of Catholic-Centered Education and Tradition.
In 2016, Ursuline Academy launched a comprehensive master planning initiative to prepare its historic campus for the next 50 years. The plan focused on contextual additions that preserve the school’s cherished collegiate character, while reorganizing the campus to create a more efficient and functional layout.
Main Hall—the first and oldest building on the campus—was fully renovated to house the relocated administration areas. An 8,000-square-foot, two-story addition on the west side introduces a new business entry leading to the President’s Office, Advancement, Communications, Business and Finance, and Human Resources departments. The upper level expands the existing Haggar Dining Hall, doubling its size to accommodate student dining as well as before and after school club meetings. The kitchen and servery are also enlarged and modernized, incorporating multiple distributed food stations to increase variety and operational efficiency.
The student chapel is relocated to the West Campus Addition and now accommodates 250 students within a beautifully arranged, 3,500-square-foot space. Stained glass windows from the former chapel were reinstalled to create a luminous backdrop for services, complemented by a warm wood ceiling feature that enhances the chapel’s spiritual ambiance.
The existing Ursuline Academy Center for Performing Arts, planned in the school’s former practice gymnasium, is relocated to the new East Campus Academic Building and Performing Arts Center allowing the existing space to return to its original purpose and function as an additional athletic gymnasium to better serve the school’s growing basketball and volleyball programs. The former stage is transformed into a state-of-the-art weight room featuring modern fitness and strength training equipment, along with additional space for plyometric and aerobic exercise. New and expanded locker rooms further enhance the athletic facilities, creating a more flexible and functional environment for students.
“The team’s thorough and accurate analysis of our current program, facilities, and previous master plan studies built the foundation for the innovative and holistic design approaches that followed. These workshops were engaging and interactive and it was evident from the onset that the design team was first and foremost interested in the identity, history and traditions of Ursuline Academy of Dallas. ”