St. Pius X Parish & School

Land locked, with an aging campus of buildings, some ill suited for the needs of an active parish ministry and modern education, St. Pius X Parish looked to Kell Muñoz Architects to develop a Master Plan to provide for its promising future.

St. Pius prides itself on a school that has served the needs of its community for Kindergarten thru eighth grade students for over 45 years. However, the physical facilities do not anymore meet the demands of a modern education. Two classes are permanently in portables. Special program needs are in inadequate spaces. Science labs are not properly outfitted. The gymnasium, an old church, must be used as a cafeteria which precludes physical education classes. The kitchen is too small, requiring many periods to feed the students. Students must go out in the weather to eat. The gymnasium is too small to be used for competition athletics. There is no auditorium with a proper stage. Accessibility requirements must be met. In addition, there is a lack of parking on site, the Parish offices are outmoded, the school offices are located on the back of the property, accessibility to the church needs to be improved, service deliveries are difficult and there are drainage problems to be resolved.

Kell Muñoz Architects solved this difficult program with a creative strategy of extensive interviews identifying needs, establishing priorities, and then through a charette process determining the proper method of siting and phasing the project to allow all operations of the school and church to continue without disruption. The master plan with 60,000 SF of new and renovated space will consolidate the parish and school offices into a new wing, consolidating the identity of the site and creating a "front door" to the parish and school where none existed before. A linking second level with a new library will provide all weather access to a new multi-functional cafetorium and kitchen complex, which can be used as a second assembly space by the parish after hours. The new building will front an existing plaza to provide a true indoor/outdoor gathering space. A new gym will be sited to consolidate athletics into a sports zone, set into the hill to avoid an overbearing presence to the adjoining neighborhood. And the existing school will be renovated to modern standards.