The board of the American School Foundation of Guadalajara has ditched plans to move house in favor of a major revamp of its campus that could see it transformed into one of the most modern international educational facilities on the continent.
For more than a decade, the board of directors mulled the idea of moving away from the campus in Colonia Providencia, the school’s home since 1907.
Parents and employees loved the school’s convenient location near the intersection of Americas and Lopez Mateos, but intense residential development in the zone over the years has restricted its physical growth.
With this in mind, several years ago the board of directors purchased of a piece of land near the Rancho Contento sub-division, on the outskirts of the metropolitan area, where a new campus could be built.
This investment, however, did not necessarily represent a full commitment to moving, noted David McGrath, the school’s general director.
In fact, following a series of retreats McGrath and the board held a couple of years ago, a decision was taken to stay put, and an ambitious plan was hatched to redevelop the current campus.
Nine architectural were consulted with three making the final list, McGrath said. The master plan is now finished and will be delivered soon to be shared with the community.
According to McGrath, the majority of the current buildings will be torn down and rebuilt “slightly to moderately higher.” The construction will be undertaken in sections, with students and staff occupying each one as they are finished.
The redevelopment will take a minimum of six years and involve a degree of disruption, McGrath admitted. A major factor in choosing the winning firm was whether it had experience doing reconstruction work at other schools while their campus was in use, he said. “The master plan is quite ingenious in partitioning off areas of the campus. I cannot deny there will be some dust in the air, but there are certain ways we can minimize the distractions to the academic program.” Around 1,500 students aged 3-18 are enrolled in the American School’s various levels.
In addition, the ingenious plan also allows the campus to recuperate a significant amount of green space, retain its high-school size soccer field, and include a good number of basketball and volleyball courts.
Any dreams of having a full-size athletics track will have to be shelved, McGrath said, but he stressed the “benefits of staying put in terms of location far outweigh missing out on those few upper-end athletic facilities.”
Selling the plot of land to the west of the city will help finance the redevelopment, as will funds that are automatically set aside from tuition fee income for long-term planning. McGrath believes the local community will choose to get involved, either with financial donations or other kinds of support “to help minimize as much as possible the length of the project.”
McGrath said the board has made a “win-win” call, allowing the school to stay in its enviable location, while creating a cutting-edge campus that will meet the needs of today’s students.
“For sure it will be a school that other international schools will want to come and see. It will be pretty impressive.”