HOUSTON — The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has unveiled its ambitious design for the Frank Liu Jr. Academy for Music and Arts (FLAMA), transforming a historic 1930s industrial landmark into a vibrant, tuition-free public charter school. Situated along Houston’s rapidly evolving Buffalo Bayou East corridor, the adaptive reuse project breathes new life into the former J.A. Folger & Co. coffee plant. Spanning 6,050 square meters (approximately 65,120 square feet), the school is designed to merge industrial heritage with a progressive, community-oriented educational model centered on the arts.
Led by OMA partner Jason Long and project architect Salome Nikuradze, the development is currently under construction across from the future Turkey Bend development. By combining the preservation of a historic industrial structure with an innovative spatial strategy inspired by Montessori principles, the design treats education not merely as a sequence of isolated classrooms, but as a collective cultural and social experience.
FLAMA Organizes Learning Around Shared Spaces
The architectural layout of FLAMA is carefully distributed across three stories, aligning its spatial organization with the developmental stages of its student body. Younger children occupy the lower levels of the building, while older students progress upward as they advance through the grades. Drawing heavily on Montessori principles, the architecture actively fosters student independence, spatial openness, and collaborative learning through a series of dynamic shared areas that OMA refers to as "neighborhoods."
Rather than functioning as traditional, compartmentalized spaces, each floor is anchored by two central gathering areas, playfully termed "cymbals." Classrooms, instrumental practice rooms, and secondary academic programs radiate outward from these communal hubs. OMA’s design consciously rejects the conventional school typology where corridors serve strictly as utilitarian conduits for moving between closed rooms. Instead, circulation and shared space are integrated directly into the educational fabric, accommodating informal gatherings, independent study, collaborative project work, and spontaneous student performances. This overlapping of everyday school activities creates a lively, transparent environment where students constantly interact with one another and their surroundings.
Music Shapes the Architecture
Music and performance serve as foundational drivers for the interior architecture of FLAMA. On the ground level, the youngest pupils are welcomed into an intimate common area optimized for play, physical movement, and drum circles, directly reflecting the Montessori emphasis on early physical and sensory development. Just beyond, students in the first and second grades gather around a larger open commons featuring a sculptural staircase. Curving gracefully like a French horn, the staircase doubles as an informal seating tier for group assemblies and impromptu performances.
As students move upward to the third through fifth grades, the character of the shared spaces transitions toward reading, peer collaboration, and focused academic study. These older students utilize an open-plan library outfitted with flexible furniture that easily adapts for group projects and after-school programs. A second library commons sits further up, serving middle school students in grades six through eight with more concentrated zones for independent work.
The two libraries are visually and acoustically linked through a striking structural opening in the floor shaped like the letter "f." This distinct form serves a triple purpose: it references the classic forte symbol in musical notation, echoes the f-shaped sound holes found on traditional stringed instruments, and nods directly to the academy’s name. Beyond its poetic symbolism, the cutout establishes a vertical connection between floors, allowing natural daylight and ambient sound to travel seamlessly between the two learning environments.
At the literal and figurative heart of the school lies a double-height cafetorium designed to bring the entire student body together for daily meals, school-wide assemblies, and larger performances. Here, a large circular opening and a curved auditorium staircase evoke the rounded body of a banjo, successfully transforming a utilitarian cafeteria space into a dynamic venue for collective gathering and musical expression.
Bringing Daylight into an Industrial Structure
Adapting a heavy industrial coffee plant built in the 1930s into a modern educational facility presented significant architectural challenges, chief among them being the introduction of adequate natural light. OMA addressed this by strategically positioning classrooms along the building’s exterior perimeter, ensuring that every learning space receives direct access to daylight. To illuminate the deep interior core and the central shared spaces, the design team introduced a series of new circular skylights that pierce the roof structure.
Simultaneously, the project honors and preserves the architectural legacy of the industrial landmark. The original grid windows along the street-facing facades have been meticulously restored and upgraded to meet contemporary energy performance standards. On the interior, a newly landscaped courtyard introduces a playful, human-scale contrast to the heavy masonry structure. Featuring vibrant planting beds and colorful geometric window divisions, the courtyard establishes a dialogue between the site’s industrial past and its new identity as a vibrant community school.
The integration of historic preservation with forward-thinking educational architecture is supported by a multidisciplinary team. Client Lovett Commercial is steering the realization of the project alongside architect of record RDLR Architects and landscape architect SWA Group. Engineering and technical execution are handled by IMEG for structural systems, DBR Engineering for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) infrastructure, and Salas O’Brien for specialized acoustic design, ensuring that the former coffee plant meets the rigorous sonic and environmental standards required of a modern music and arts academy.
