Atlanta Public Schools Build Smart Project Master Plan

Project Location: Fulton County, Georgia
Project Scope: 1135 Acres, 9,988,000 gsf, New and Existing Facilities
Completion Date: 2002

The Atlanta Public Schools Build Smart Project Master Plan included 97 schools and 72 vacant and support facilities. Like many metropolitan areas, Atlanta’s facilities deteriorated from the mid seventies through the late eighties. Meanwhile, Atlanta’s student enrollment dropped to half of what it was in 1970. Now serving 57,000 students, APS wished to provide equity and quality to the facilities which represented a broad range of facilities conditions, population shifts, site constraints and programmatic change.

Existing architectural character consisted of three very different images: a “warehouse” historic academic center, administrative buildings and newer solitary. 

Services:

  • Academic programming
  • Master planning
  • Capital planning and phasing
  • Demographic projections
  • Graphical Information Systems geocoding of student residences and attendance
  • Public relations
  • Community relations
  • Financial planning
  • Facilities assessment
  • Site assessment
  • Program scheduling

  • Definition of project scope and conceptual costs

  • Space allocation

  • Disposition strategy for surplus real estate

  • Identification of leasing opportunities

Affected programs included:

  • Elementary School
  • Middle School
  • High School
  • Facilities
  • Transportation
  • Instruction
  • Administration
  • Athletics
  • Pre-K buildings