EMS ISD's Administrative Offices and Discovery Lab Learning Center consolidates the school district’s administrative and professional development functions, while providing a field trip destination for K-12 natural science classes and serving as a community hub. The district desired a building that would bring its staff closer together in a calm and inviting atmosphere with visual connections to the natural outdoors, all while nurturing a culture of creativity and collaboration. The resulting design sits on the site in a quiet, reflective pose, similar to a park building or nature center. The building is faced inside and out with golden brown stone with deep raked joints, complimented by a dark gray cement panel system and glass walls framed with dark bronze storefront. The semi-rural location of the building led to the incorporation of a sit-down bistro with full-service breakfast and lunch, along with a micro mart serving healthy grab and go food throughout the day.
The building features direct access to Marine Creek Lake and is connected to a six-mile-long nature trail. Two natural science classrooms are located on the lower level to accommodate student field trips and specialty science activities. These have operable glass walls allowing for outdoor teaching, exploration, and field experimentation. A boardroom featuring large glass walls has access to a raised outdoor walkway and nature overlook. This outdoor walkway runs along the entire western side of the building under a deep, sheltering roof overhang adjacent to floor-to-ceiling glass exterior walls with views to the woods and lake. The walkway is intended to encourage employees to traverse outdoors rather than indoors during the workday