Cedar Ridge High School is the Round Rock Independent School District’s fifth high school and the largest building under one roof in the city of Round Rock.

Photo: Jim Lincoln

The 375,000-sq-ft, two-story, tilt-up concrete building’s systems include structural steel and tiltwall interior framing, slab-on-grade with footings and drilled piers, exterior metal panels and architectural flyovers. The entrance floors are terrazzo with 10-ft-diameter school logos laid in the design.

The school includes grades nine through 12, including seven career and tech academies. Other space includes fine art and performing art classrooms, black-box theater, media center, outdoor stage, library, cyber cafe and main and practice gymnasiums. It is designed with a 3,000-student core capacity and is located on a 95-acre site.

The project boasts a number of innovations. One suggestion by American Constructors was to locate usable select fill material onsite because there was significant area available. That allowed the earthwork subcontractor, who was excavating in cut areas, to identify areas that needed to be filled. It saved on costs of importing fill.

The fill-material solution improved the schedule and the onsite fill-material solution was issued as a proposal to help obtain an innovative credit under LEED.

Key Players

Submitted by: American Constructors
Developer/owner: Round Rock Independent School District, Round Rock, Texas
General contractor/construction manager: American Constructors, Austin
Architect: K A Hickman Architects, Round Rock, Texas; and Perkins+Will, Dallas
Civil engineer: Baker-Aicklen & Associates Inc., Round Rock
Structural engineer: L.A. Fuess Partners Inc., Dallas
MEP engineer: Energy Systems Associates, Round Rock