Detail: Edinburg High School

One of four skylight galleries that light-up the student

corridors as students move from one class to another.

Linn-San Manuel Emergency Services Facility Groundbreaking Ceremony

The former fire department, destroyed by fire December 10, 2011.

The community of Linn-San Manuel gathers for the groundbreaking ceremony.

Linn - San Manuel, Texas

On December 10, 2011 fire destroyed the building that housed the Linn-San Manuel Fire Department and eliminating the first line of protection for the county's rural northern ranches and developing neighborhoods. In time, the lack of a station destroyed the volunteer departments relationship with critical entities: Hidalgo County, the Linn-San Manuel Volunteer Fire Department Advisory Board and the department itself.

On Wednesday a new era began as community and county officials took part in a ground breaking ceremony for the reactivated department's new home: the Luis Flores Jr. - Linn-San Manuel Emergency Services Facility.  The land for the building was donated by Mrs. Vicky Flores and her family in memory of their late husband and father.

The 9,076 square foot, $1.3 million facility was designed by Mata+Garcia Architects. Working with Hidalgo County Precinct 4 Commissioner Joseph Palacios and Pct. 4 ROW Agent, Jesse Ozuna, MGa design includes offices for regional emergency response agencies, a community / training room, a full kitchen, three apparatus bays and department storage.  

J-Con Construction of Palmview, Texas has been selected as the general contractor for this project.

Mata+Garcia Architects presentation board of the new Luis Flores Jr. - 

Linn-San Manuel Emergency Services Facility, completion due March 2015.

North Elevation of the new Linn-San Manuel Emergency Services Facility.

(L to R)  LSMVFD Firefighters Rudy "RJ" Campos, Juan Vicencio, HCPct.4 Commissioner Joseph Palacios, Chief Elia Garza Vicencio, Firefighter Hugo Aguilar, Assistant Chief Alma Diana Guiterrez, LSMVFD Board of Directors Johnny Cozad and John Hart. (Back)  LSMVFD Board of Directors Victoria Rodriguez, Pharr FD Chief Jaime Guzman, and Gerry Guerra.

Dignitaries from various local and county agencies gather with Hidalgo County Precinct No. 4 Commissioner Joseph Palacios for the traditional groundbreaking marking the start of construction for the new Luis Flores Jr. - Linn-San Manuel Emergency Services Facility.

Mrs. Vicky Flores and family members of the late Luis Flores Jr. gather for the groundbreaking of the new Luis Flores Jr. - Linn-San Manuel Emergency Services Facility. With them is Hidalgo County Precinct No. 4 Commissioner Joseph Palacios who spearheaded the project.

Jesse Ozuna, HCPct. 4 ROW Manager and the project manager for Pct. 4 on the Luis Flores Jr. - Linn-San Manuel Emergency Services Facility served as the master of ceremonies for the event.

Roberts Elementary School - San Benito CISD

Courtyard view of Classroom Porch areas and Library.

Luis Flores Jr. Linn-San Manuel Emergency Services Facility Bid Opening Held

Sealed bids were received today by the Hidalgo County Purchasing Department for the proposed Luis Flores Jr. - Linn-San Manuel Emergency Services Facility.  The low bidder was J-Con Construction of Palmview with the amount of $1,350,000.00

Architectural presentation board showing the North Elevation (top left),

the South Elevation (bottom left) and the overall site plan (right).

The north elevation of the proposed emergency services facility will use 

hand-formed brick for the office/residential areas and metal siding for the

apparatus bay. The design blends a classic ranch aesthetic in a

contemporary composition that will highlight the facility at the intersection

of Interstate Highway 69C and State Highway 186. The completion target

date is March 2015. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church - Mission

Was in Mission today, drove by Mata+Garcia Architects renovation and

addition project.  Rey Zamora, Architect and Fr. Roy Snipes worked

tirelessly over the past two years to bring this project to fruition.

On the Boards: Sunflower Park

Our initial concept for Phase One of Sunflower Park:  Visitors enter the park through a monumental gateway directly accessing the parking lot, which will be shared with a future Community Resource Center. Crushed granite trails meander through the park, allowing patrons to either access park amenities or use them as a part of their fitness workout.  The trails will change grades, providing a moderate challenge to a fitness program, yet complying with state and national accessibility standards.  An existing berm on three sides of the park perimeter will be set five feet above grade, with all-weather surface to provide an option for those wishing for a more challenging workout.  

A children's playground has been placed in a central location, for convenience and for supervision.  A Wilderness Hideout Challenger System, which is a nature-themed playground features wood components, a Climber and Tree Toppers; a Challenger System that features two slides, the Horizontal Loop Ladder for upper-body fitness, and a Transfer Station for wheelchair accessibility.

Sunflower Park & Community Resource Center

July 27, 2013 Article by Jared Janes in The Monitor newspaper. Photos by MGa

Hidalgo County Pct. 4 Commissioner Joseph Palacios, center, speaks to the media prior to the ground breaking ceremony for the Sunflower Park Friday July 26, 2013 in San Carlos. The park will provide outdoor play areas and recreational activities for residents of the area.

Rain complicates conditions at the chronically-cramped San Carlos community resource center. When the skies open up, the volunteers who manage its summer program for children must find ways to make the center work with no outdoor options. They divide its available indoor space with curtains and siphon kids off by activity, or they find ways to entertain and educate them as a whole group.

But in a program that already has to turn kids away because of the limitations at the community resource center, those space-saver solutions aren’t the ideal fix, said Veronica Sanchez, a volunteer at the center whose two children are regular attendees. “There’s a lot of parents asking to put (their children) in the program,” she said. “If we could have more space, we would be better off.” They’ll get it now thanks to an expansion of county services in the San Carlos area.

Hidalgo County Precinct 4 broke ground Friday on Sunflower Park, one of two new parks planned for the precinct this year that will expand existing acreage by 400 percent. Located at the intersection of Highway 107 and Sunflower Road, the new park will provide outdoor play space and recreational activities for residents and families in San Carlos. Planned amenities for the park include a pavilion with basketball courts, playground equipment, walking trails and a soccer and baseball field. The park is just the first phase of a series of improvements planned for the area. Precinct 4 will also break ground later this summer on a new community resource center to replace the existing, outdated one that hosts community events for children and their parents.

Hidalgo County Pct. 4 Commissioner Joseph Palacios, center left, and Ernesto Narvaiz, center right, toss dirt during the ground breaking ceremony for the Sunflower Park in San Carlos. The park will provide outdoor play and recreational activities for residents in the  area.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Joseph Palacios said the new park and community resource center are needed improvements for San Carlos, a rural community with about 6,000 residents, making it larger than some of the county’s cities. Palacios said the county is currently under-serving its youth in San Carlos because it can only take in about 35 percent of those who sign up for its summer program. In an impoverished community where many families lack Internet access or even a computer, the community resource center fulfills a fundamental need for San Carlos.

“It’s not just improving the quality of life,” Palacios said, adding that the space will fulfill the needs for now and the immediate future. “It pretty much will be the flagship for their community, the place where they go and take pride in.”

Rendering of the three phases of Sunflower Park. Phase I is in the lower right-hand corner.

Construction costs for the park’s first phase are estimated at $500,000, but the total cost over three phases will be about $1.1 million. The San Carlos community resource center will cost about $1.2 million. Precinct 4 is covering the initial $500,000 cost for the park’s first phase, while funding from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development is slated for the rest.

Once both are completed, it will vastly improve the quality of services in San Carlos, said Alicia Rodriguez, the San Carlos community director for Precinct 4. In addition to the children’s summer program funded entirely by churches and charities and handled by parent volunteers, the community resource center hosts educational courses — helping residents get their GED diploma or learn English — and other special events in San Carlos.

East/Courtyard Elevation * Community Resource Center

North/Courtyard Elevation * Community Resource Center

South Elevation from Hwy. 107 * Community Resource Center

The park will also add a recreational venue for a community that previously lacked those options. “It’s a blessing,” Rodriguez said. “This is going to be a place that will improve our community.”

Town Hall * Hidalgo County Pct. 4 Projects

Newspaper Article Published Friday, June 28, 2013 by: Jared Janes | The Monitor

Hidalgo County Precinct 4 will expand parks and roads, work on economic development and partner with other governments to save money, Commissioner Joseph Palacios said Thursday as he laid out ongoing projects and future plans for his precinct. The precinct is expanding 10th Street through to Monte Cristo, adding 80 acres of new park space (designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP) and starting work on drainage improvements funded by last year’s bond referendum, Palacios said at the first of a series of town hall meetings. But Palacios said the traditional role of a county commissioner is evolving to encompass increasingly complex issues: economic development and health care. 

Joseph Palacios, Hidalgo County Pct. 4 Commissioner addresses constituents at a town hall meeting Thursday, 

held at the City of Edinburg Commission Chambers, to lay-out ongoing precinct projects and discuss future plans.

“As we grow, there’s going to be a great demand for every experienced people who are out there committed to learn and figure out how to solve the problems of today and tomorrow,” Palacios said. “It’s not just paving streets and maintaining roads; the evolution of the role of a commissioner has to be rooted in a comprehensive experience in everything.”

Palacios hosted the town hall meeting Thursday to share upcoming projects and plans for the precinct, including parks, drainage, public safety, new facilities and road construction. Palacios also announced his intent to seek a second term as Precinct 4 commissioner when the seat is on the ballot again next year.  He secured an endorsement from his prior opponent and former Commissioner Oscar Garza, who introduced Palacios at Thursday’s town hall.

Palacios told constituents that one of the precinct’s priorities is completing drainage projects funded in last year’s $184 million drainage referendum. In Edinburg and McAllen, the precinct’s home base, the drainage referendum will fund eight major projects designed to add additional capacity to existing drainage ditches through a system of pumps and gates. By using in-house construction and engineering crews, Precinct 4 also saved an estimated $2 million off about $7 million in previously funded drainage work, Palacios said. The precinct has also worked with the Texas Department of Transportation to leverage local resources with state dollars to reduce traffic congestion and improve highway safety.

Rendering of the proposed Emergency Services Facility for the San Manuel / Linn area in northern Hidalgo County. The $1.3 million facility will house the local fire department and be a satellite office for county and state law enforcement agencies. Mata+Garcia Architects LLP was selected as architect for the project; consultants include Chanin Engineering (Structural),  Sigma HN Inc. (Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing) and LeFevre Engineering (Civil).

Precinct 4 is working with TxDOT to reconstruct and widen 10th Street from University Drive to Monte Cristo. The $13.7 million project is being funded with only about $3.3 million in county funds. The county also kicked in about $1.2 million on a $13.2 million partnership between TxDOT, McAllen and the Hidalgo County Metropolitan Planning Organization to develop Ware Road from Mile 3 North to Mile 5 North.

Phase One of the proposed Sunflower Park, at the corner of Hwy. 107 and Sunflower Road in San Carlos, Texas. The park was designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP, CLH Engineering (Structural), Prodigy CM (MEP) and LeFevre Engineering (Civil). The park includes a pavilion, walking trails, playground, picnic shelters and support facilities.

But Palacios said he was proudest of the precinct’s efforts to improve quality of life in its neighborhoods. This spring, the precinct will begin work on parks in the Linn-San Manuel and San Carlos areas that provide recreation and amenities to rural residents that are generally reserved for cities, Palacios said. With only one other park in the precinct, the 80 new acres will expand existing acreage by 400 percent.

Rendering of the Sunflower Park Master Plan - designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP.

The precinct is also building a $1.2 million community resource center in San Carlos (designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP) — replacing one outgrown by the community of about 6,000 people — and plans to construct a multi-purpose facility for emergency services in Linn-San Manuel (designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP) that will serve as a home for its volunteer fire department and law enforcement agencies. Palacios said his office built its list of planned projects around the comprehensive needs of its residents. “We’ve got growing pains and needs,” Palacios said. “It’s never going to be done. Our job never ends.”

 East Elevation of the proposed San Carlos Community Resource Center and designed by Mata+Garcia Architects LLP, Chanin Engineering (Structural) Sigma HN Inc. (Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing) and LeFevre Engineering (Civil).

We Cherish This Building!

Detail of D'Hannis Brick Patterns at North Elementary Entrance

Article by JULIE SILVA in the Mid-Valley Town Crier Newspaper Regarding a Mata+Garcia Architects Elementary School Project in Mercedes, Texas. 

MERCEDES — Mercedes ISD trustees got a look at construction progress in the expansion of North Elementary at a workshop last week.

"We cherish this building," Mercedes Independent School District Superintendent Daniel Treviño said. "It's our newest building, serving first through fifth grades."  A construction crew is building six additional classrooms and Treviño hopes to turn North Elementary into a middle school that serves sixth through eighth grades in 2014. The gym will be turned into a band hall and a new gym will be constructed, he said.

Also Monday, trustees recognized a plaque mounted at the school four years after it was constructed. The plaque, which lists the names of the school board and superintendent on board during the school's construction, first was commissioned in 2009 when the school opened, but it was lost in changes in staffing over the years and only recently resurfaced.

Former Superintendent Walter Watson, who headed the district at the time, was invited to the event as an honored guest. Retired from the district, Watson said he's found himself working with children again, but he still misses Mercedes ISD

5.5 Ways To Turn Your Classroom "GREEN"

As architects, we often get asked by the teachers of the schools we design for help in taking positive steps to save our planet. We enjoy showing how easy it is to do so! Here’s a simple list of items both teachers and students can use to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

1. Recycle:  Place paper and plastic recycling boxes in your classroom and promote their use. Students take turns being the recycling monitor, taking responsibility for demonstrating and knowing what is recyclable and what is not. Teachers can minimize the amount of paper used in classrooms, without compromising educational objectives, by going paperless. Writing assignments and testing on computers, posting information on the school website and the use of email, all help limit the use of paper.

2. Plant a Tree: Turn your school grounds into a park! On many of our projects, landscaping is usually left out or deleted from the project scope. The client’s point-of-view being that the school PTA will provide the landscaping. This rarely happens! In a school with 750 kids, the classrooms number about thirty-four. A $250 two-inch caliper tree or shrub, when divided by 22 students per classroom, equals a cost of $11.36 per child per semester (63 cents per week). If a school does this twice a year it would amount to sixty-eight trees and shrubs per year. Trees lower the surrounding temperature, filter air, remove carbon dioxide and provide shade and beauty.  What an impact this would make. There will be plenty of trees to hug on Earth Day!

3. Flip the Switch: Every time you leave your classroom empty, turn-off the lights. While we install motion sensors to activate lights when needed in all of our projects, not all schools have them. Turning off classroom lights cuts carbon emissions by reducing electrical use.

4. Edu-Garden: With a school-wide effort, plan and place the "edu-garden" adjacent to the school cafeteria. You can grow vegetables, for use in school meals, or flowers, for display in administration and library areas. The students are able to taste and see what they grow. An additional step is to take classroom and cafeteria water used in assignments or cooking and using it to water the plants.

5. Let the Daylight In: It never fails! During programming sessions, teachers always ask that their classrooms have plenty of windows; once they occupy the space the windows are covered with construction paper, blinds or curtains. We go to great lengths to ensure that only daylight, and not direct sunlight, enters the classrooms. While there will be times when a teacher needs to control the view, there are plenty of teaching moments that can occur by keeping the blinds open – changes in weather, birds building nests, the movement of wind through tree and shrubs, etc. In addition, studies have shown that an aggressive daylighting program can reduce electrical loads by up to 30 percent, increase student performance by 20 % and reduce absenteeism by 50 %.  
5.5 Power Down: Classrooms are empty three periods a day; conference period, lunch period and planning period.  Though teachers my place classroom computers on shut-down mode, they still pull electricity. It is best to completely shut down computers, chargers and printers,   and un-plug them from the walls during these periods and after school hours as well.

Hector Rene Garcia, Architect / Partner - Mata+Garcia Architects LLP

Throw-back Thursday: North Elementary

Detail of Gymnasium Graphics

Throw-back Thursday: Perez Elementary Library

While in Brownsville the other day, I drove past two projects that we designed for the Brownsville Independent School District four years ago. It was good to see that the school maintenance staff has done an excellent job of maintaining the facility as well as the grounds.