A First Look at the New HSPVA Campus

From only a thought of a possible move and preliminary designs in 2011, to the final touches on the mind-blowing five-story building over seven years later, the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) is counting down the days until the big move to a new campus at the start of 2019. With the new building so close to finished, this past week, all six art departments were able to get a look inside of their new home. Completely ecstatic with the new art and academic spaces, students dashed from room to room in the building full with seemingly never-ending surprises. 

“We finally have a space that is big enough for all of our artistic needs!” exclaimed one student in the Visual Art department. And the new space is definitely a major upgrade, being more than double the size of the existing campus. 

Principal Scott Allen introduces the new building to the Visual Art and Piano students in the Denney Theater before their tours begin. 

“The new building is going to take our programs to the next level,” Principal Scott Allen states when introducing the campus to the students on their tour Thursday. “You all have already been so successful back at Stanford [the street of the current campus in Montrose] despite maybe not having all of the space you needed, so we are so excited to see how much more you can grow here.”

Located in the heart of downtown Houston, the building is cleverly placed between the theater district and Discovery Green. The school itself exceeds expectations, built with astonishing areas including an acoustic-adjustable recording studio, expanded gallery spaces, a creative writing wing, two underground parking lots, sound-proofed practice rooms, a patio and even a fitness room. The entire building is centered around the Denney Theater, which will now be able to seat 800 and enough to fit the whole school. The building was made for the students and caters perfectly to their needs. 

The main staircase toward the entrance of the school serves as not only stairs, but also a wide seating area. 

All of the different departments do have their own necessary areas and facilities, but there are also many spaces which serve multi-purposely and encourage the blending and collaboration of the arts originally intended for the school. “We wanted the cross-pollination of the art areas,” explains Gensler architect Terry Newell, and this was certainly accomplished. 

The high school will continue the moving process throughout the rest of this month, and on the first day back from winter break, students will be eagerly attending their new campus downtown.