Valor Voyager

Valor Collegiate Academies is a network of charter schools in South Nashville. Manuel Zeitlin Architects has provided architectural guidance for the charter since its inception in 2014. The first phase middle school included a renovation to a 19,000 sf former Social Security Administration building with a 2nd phase the following year witch was 20,000 sf expansion to the exiting building. The expansion is a bright and airy educational facility whose design is organized around open, flexible communal spaces the school uses to reinforce their mentoring and mindfulness work which is at the core of their educational model. The expanded building is known as “Valor Flagship.”

In the fall of 2015 the school purchased a former Lowe’s Home Improvement building, +100K sf big box situated on a parcel adjacent to Valor Flagship. Completed in the fall of 2016, Valor Voyager is a 40,000 sf middle school.  MZA proposed a novel design approach which bifurcated the building and created a 10,000 sf courtyard where interior space once stood.  In doing this, sunlight now penetrates into the center the building, creating opportunities of daylit classrooms at the innermost portions of the building.  In addition, a second floor was inserted into the exiting building envelope, effectively doubling the usable area within the existing building footprint.

MZA is currently in the schematic design phase for Valor High which will occupy the remaining portions of the forma Lowe’s building.