Fleck Hall: From Ordinary to Extraordinary

With the completion of the John Brooks Williams Natural Sciences Center in Fall 2006, many assumed Fleck Hall would be slated for demolition. Not so. Major renovations transformed the outdated science building to a new home for the School of Education.

While test tubes and petri dishes are a thing of the past at Fleck Hall, the biggest change came with the addition of a new 8,000 square foot third floor that features glass-walled conference rooms with some of the best views of the Austin skyline.

Humble Beginnings
As World War II veterans returned home and sought to take advantage of the G.I. Bill, college enrollment across the country skyrocketed. St. Edward’s was no exception. To accommodate the university’s rapid growth, St. Edward’s acquired five temporary — and inexpensive — war surplus buildings from nearby military bases.

Opting for speed and durability over aesthetics, administrators also added several permanent structures over the next decade. Fleck Hall, built in 1958 in just nine months, was part of that new construction. Its functional, flat-topped, concrete “shoebox” design accommodated 10 science labs, three classrooms and 13 offices in just 17,000 square feet.

A Sustainable Purpose
After nearly five decades, Fleck Hall could no longer keep pace with the university’s needs for technology and space — which is why the building was originally scheduled to be demolished when the new sciences center opened. Architect Arthur Andersson, who designed Trustee Hall, had a different vision for the building and convinced administrators that Fleck Hall was worth saving.

“Fleck is concrete; it’s built like Rome — and like Rome, it will still be here in 2,000 years,” says Andersson. “I wanted to utilize that staying power, to get down to the essential materiality of the building.”

The university quickly saw the value in this approach as it offered a more economical way to create offices and classrooms that built on the university’s existing resources — and cut down on waste in the landfill.

Just like the Fleck of old, the renovated building subtly complements the architecture across campus. It reopened in Fall 2007.