Like a proud parent, Denise Davis, an associate at the Communities Foundation of Texas, shows off photographs of the Kathlyn Joy Gilliam Collegiate Academy whenever she is asked about exciting developments in early-college-high-school programs.

Completion Date: September 2010 Owner: Spring Independent School District Program: A two-story, 105,391-square-foot public elementary school with large-volume communal spaces—a cafeteria, a gymnasium, and an auditorium—concentrated in a central core, with classrooms arranged along the perimeter. The school also includes a library, a music room, a computer lab, an indoor "tree house" on the second floor, and a garden/outdoor classroom at the entrance with a river table and pond. Design Concept and Solution: The district normally uses a two-building prototype for all its schools, but for Gloria Marshall the board wanted to rearrange the program to conserve natural resources and