Rockdale Career Academy

Rockdale County, Georgia

Atypical School Design

The Rockdale Career Academy was established by the Rockdale County Board of Education to expand the educational opportunities for their students and community. This facility is one of the largest career and technology centers in Georgia. The school was so successful that a 40,000 SF addition was programmed, designed and constructed. 

Students have the opportunity to participate in internship and apprentice programs with local businesses and earn a high school diploma or technical college degree. There are three significant clusters of study: Health/Human Resources, Business Information/Management, and Technical Engineering. 

Situated adjacent to a business park, the building was designed to respect the surrounding buildings while establishing its own presence. The architecture responded with the creation of an exterior façade of brick veneer and aluminum window wall system that is in keeping with the neighboring buildings. Steel-framed construction using a 40’x40’ bay size is more typical of an industrial/warehouse project than a school project. This created a large efficient floor plan which was oriented in a u-shape configuration. The interior courtyard provides access to a loading dock adjacent to the kitchen, a greenhouse adjacent to the Horticulture lab, a playground adjacent to the early childhood education classroom, an outside automotive court adjacent to the automotive labs, and a covered work area for the construction technology classroom.