Jeffrey Hill, AIA, Director at SBLM Architects, has completed a full renovation of St. Philip’s School and Community Center’s new WeCreation Center in Dallas, Texas. The community gave a warm welcome to the updated facility at today’s ribbon cutting ceremony. The WeCreation Center is available for collaborative nonprofits, businesses, and individuals to host events that align with the center’s vision. The 3,000-square-foot flexible space is designed to serve as a think tank where individuals and organizations are inspired to collaborate and strategize on outcomes for community topics.

In 2016, St. Philip’s tasked Jeffrey Hill, AIA with the adaptive reuse of an abandoned 1930s-era building. The property is now a cutting-edge concept that increases academic opportunities for not only the school but for the surrounding communities as well.

Originally conceived as an Episcopal church for the Southern Dallas community in the 1940s, St. Philip’s began offering tailored programs to meet the needs of local youth, later transitioning to provide daycare and education services. Under the leadership of Dr. Terry Flowers, St. Philip’s has grown from an Episcopal Pre-K through first-grade school serving under 90 children in the 1980s to a highly competitive, faith-based independent institution, expanding to 8th grade in 2023. The organization has developed a beloved reputation for helping children become confident, morally strong, intelligent, compassionate individuals, and future community leaders.

St. Philip’s tapped Jeffrey Hill, AIA, to further engage the community through the facility renovation by implementing a new innovation lab or “maker space.” Conceptualized by Stanford University’s D. School, this learning concept allows students and community members to collaborate and interact with art, science, and engineering through hands-on experiences. Furthermore, students and community members are encouraged to pursue their areas of interest and cultivate a deeper understanding of various academic studies.

“It has been an incredibly gratifying experience to work hand-in-hand with St. Philip’s over the past five years, bringing a unique and engaging education model to this Dallas community,” says Jeffrey Hill, AIA, Director at SBLM Architects. “We strived to bring this vision to life through thoughtful design that inspires students and community members to approach learning with a refreshed sense of excitement. We’re looking forward to witnessing the positive impact the center will have on the surrounding area.”

The open-concept maker space is expertly tailored for collaboration and adaptability, featuring mobile furniture options, making the space easy to reconfigure for different functions based on the task at hand. The WeCreation Center will allow creators and innovators to pursue their passions further while drawing on a multitude of disciplines to enhance creativity and encourage problem-solving skills.

Through strategic design planning, Jeffrey Hill, AIA and St. Philip’s created an accessible and welcoming space for both students and the local community, ultimately driving new forms of thinking, learning, and problem-solving. The St. Philip’s School and Community Center’s WeCreation Center is officially open to students and the public.

About St. Philip’s School and Community Center

St. Philip’s is a Christian private school in southern Dallas serving over 200 students in grades PK2 through 6th grade (ages 2-12) with expansion to 7th grade in 2022 and 8th grade in 2023 and a multi-faceted dynamic community center providing a myriad of vital educational, social services, athletic and neighborhood development programs to over 4,000 children, youth, and adults annually. The organization, which has been deemed “the miracle on Pennsylvania Avenue,” has a mission to transform South Dallas, our city, and the world by FAITH, EDUCATION, and SERVICE.