Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy Project Marks Key Milestone

JE Dunn Construction recently celebrated the placement of the final steel beam in the framing of a new Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy elementary school for Atlanta Public Schools (APS).

At a midday “topping out” ceremony, workers, vendors, suppliers and APS representatives scrawled their signatures on the eight-foot symbolic beam, and JE Dunn thanked all for progress to date on the $27.6-million project.

Topping out celebrations are customary in building projects, signaling that buildings under construction have reached their maximum height, with façade and interior work to proceed.

The new three-story structure will give the school greater street visibility and provide an enriched learning environment. It will replace a 44-year-old facility, which will be preserved for another use.

Features of the 104,000-square-foot replacement building, which will accommodate a full-time enrollment of 753, include a main entry/lobby space with a gallery, media center, cafeteria, gymnasium with stage, specialty classrooms, STEM and flight simulator labs, and outdoor lab/classroom space.

The project will also deliver new parking areas, play field, exterior lighting and signage, landscape and hardscape areas, covered walkways to the building entries, and improved bus and carpool circulation.

Collins Cooper Carusi is the project’s architect of record.

The new Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy will open for the 2019-2020 academic year.

 

Featured

  • Academy of Classical Education Breaks Ground in Louisiana

    Charter Schools USA (CSUSA) recently announced the groundbreaking of a new public charter school in Covington, La., according to a news release. The Academy of Classical Education at Covington will enroll students in grades K–8 and is scheduled for completion in August 2026, just in time for the new school year.

  • Texas Recruitment

    Texas Recruitment

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The University of Texas at Austin's Texas Recruitment has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of Renovation.

  • Minnesota District Starts Construction on Early Childhood Learning Center

    Sauk Rapids-Rice Public Schools in Sauk Rapids, Minn., recently announced that construction has begun on a new early childhood learning center and a new outdoor activities complex, according to a news release.

  • abstract illustration of school gym

    How the Gymnasium Can Serve as a Model for Learning Space Design

    Multipurpose gyms work because flexibility was built into the brief from the start, not retrofitted later. The same logic applies to academic spaces.