Case Studies - Education

MIGRATIONS® Contributes Performance and Sustainability to Two New Schools in West Texas

In October 2011, Laura Bush told the students, staff and guests assembled in the gymnasium of the new Lubbock-Cooper Laura Welch Bush Middle School, “I can’t think of a happier event than the opening of a brand new school, and there is no building I would rather have named after me than a new school.” The former first lady was treated to a private tour of the school before she made her remarks at the official dedication ceremony. One can only imagine the pride she felt as she walked through the beautiful facility, floored throughout with U.S. made* Armstrong MIGRATIONS® BioBased Tile® (BBT®). MIGRATIONS is also used throughout the district’s new Lubbock-Cooper Central Elementary School. Designers at Parkhill, Smith & Cooper (PSC) say they specified MIGRATIONS for both projects primarily for performance, but, the firm is also committed to serving their clients’ needs using environmentally-friendly products within budget parameters. MIGRATIONS provides better-thanstandard composition tile performance, plus it is a green product at an affordable price. “MIGRATIONS has a green story, and as professionals, it is great to have a product that meets the technical, sustainable and budget criteria of a high use building,” says Jana Pochybova Forbes, IIDA (International Interior Design Association), one of the PSC team’s designers.

Building the Future, One Student at a Time

The Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District (LCISD) is proud to be a Texas Education Agency “Exemplary District,” the highest possible ranking in the state’s accountability rating system. The school, parents and community partner to create a safe and orderly learning environment within which academic excellence may flourish. Their dedication is paying off, so much so that the student population is increasing astronomically, making LCISD the fastest growing school district in West Texas.

To accommodate the growing number of students, voters in LCISD voted to pass a bond package for constructing two new schools. LCISD administrators asked the Lubbock office of PSC, an Engineering News Record “Top 500” architecture firm, to design both facilities using materials meeting the school district’s criteria.

A Smart Design Approach

PSC principal Mike Moss, AIA (American Institute of Architects), and Jimmy Rittenberry AIA, Richard Minkler, AIA, Mike Baker, AIA, plus Forbes collaborated on the schools’ interior design along with architectural interns Jeff Reed and Kelly Knowles. The team was predisposed to using Armstrong products because they are the LCISD flooring standard. However, the team also wanted to take a fresh, new approach for both schools. Forbes explains, “We used a range of coordinating colors to add a level of sophistication for a student population often caught in the middle between juvenile and adult colors and design themes. MIGRATIONS is stylish and provided all the colors we needed to create patterns that work with the buildings’ large scale and the age groups. Definitely, MIGRATIONS has great color choices with great design possibilities.”

Both school floors designs incorporate the LCISD colors of red, black and white with additional neutrals and colors complementing other interior finishes. The 90,601 square foot Lubbock Cooper Central Elementary uses eight MIGRATIONS colors in the main foyer, hallways, classrooms, cafetorium and gymnasium. Five MIGRATIONS colors are used in the 174,000 square foot Laura Welch Bush Middle School main foyer, hallways, classrooms, cafetorium, gymnasium, band halls and choir room.

Tough Enough for Kids

School floors take a lot of physical abuse. Corridors need to withstand a high volume of foot traffic, wheeled carts and dropped objects. Gyms and cafetoriums see their fair share of bouncing balls, sharp silverware and more. Knowing this, LCISD administrators asked PSC to select a floor with high indent and impact resistance. MIGRATIONS answered these criteria even better than standard composition tile, with twice the indent resistance, five times the impact resistance and 2.5 times greater resistance to cracking from uneven subfloors. Forbes says, “MIGRATIONS’ durable performance characteristics will keep these school floors looking great for years to come.”

An Enhanced Range of Environmental Benefits

PSC constantly monitors and seeks out sustainable products to integrate into their everyday design practices, whether the project is deemed a “green” building or not. That made MIGRATIONS an especially good choice for these two schools. The floor tile is made with BioStride®, a patent-pending material containing rapidly renewable, US-grown plant ingredients. MIGRATIONS is also made with 10 percent preconsumer recycled limestone, which helps reduce the use of virgin ingredients. Compared with conventional composition flooring a 20,000 square foot BioBased tile installation saves energy and natural resources equivalent to 72 gallons of gasoline and diverts 2,800 pounds of waste from landfills. Like all Armstrong resilient products, MIGRATIONS is FloorScore™ certified to California Section 01350 for low VOC emissions. It is also compliant with LEED® credits EQ4.3 for low emitting materials, MR4.0 for recycled content, MR6.0 for rapidly renewable materials, and depending on location, MR5.0 for regional materials. (MIGRATIONS is manufactured in Jackson, Miss.)

Industry-Leading Quality

Armstrong products have a legacy of quality that enables an easy installation. Joey Yates of Yates Flooring Center, Lubbock, the flooring contractor for both school projects, says, “We try to spec Armstrong on every school because it performs the best and the end users like it as well. MIGRATIONS is a newer Armstrong product, but it installs just like their standard composition tile products, needing no special tools, equipment or labor training. The patterns we installed in these schools look great.” With 150 years of experience in flooring and a proven track record in commercial installations, the Armstrong Commercial collection of high performance products meets the most rigorous challenges in today’s education environments. Time-tested products and newer options like affordable, durable, MIGRATIONS BioBased Tile provides beautiful solutions for academic spaces.