Designs for Humble ISD's rebuild of Lakeland Elementary School show a "play-based learning" concept for the campus, which will open in August 2021. PBK Architects, the architecture firm chosen to design the rebuild of Lakeland Elementary School, presented the preliminary designs to trustees on Oct. 15. The school, which will be located on 49.6 acres on Rustic Timbers Drive, will serve as a replacement campus for the existing campus, which is located at 1500 Montgomery Lane, Humble. According to the district, Lakeland Elementary is the HISD's oldest campus, having been built in 1960. The $40 million rebuild of the school will expand its capacity from 650 to 950 students and improve the size and configuration of classroom and administrative spaces, according to district data. Lakeland Elementary is funded by Humble ISD's 2018 bond referendum. PBK Senior Project Designer Jorge Tiscareno said the two-story campus will include security vestibules, open learning spaces and an outdoor track. The design for Lakeland Elementary also includes a play-based learning concept, which Tiscareno said was encouraged by district administrators. The main entry of Lakeland Elementary will feature a "tree of knowledge" concept to support the school's play-based learning design. "We're going to tie a lot of that specialized play-based learning ideas [and] moments in specialty areas throughout the rest of the school, not only in the action based learning lab but it's throughout the whole school," he said. The school will also feature numerous flexible spaces and an outdoor, enclosed courtyard where students and teachers can gather. It will also include a media cloud, which is a multifunctional space designed to look like a tree house that can be used for staff purposes as well as large activities for students, Tiscareno said. "[PBK Architects] really captured the spirit that is the new vision for what is Lakeland Elementary School, including the fact that we have a performing arts wheel pilot there where elementary school students are playing violins and band instruments and theater and dance and choir, and one day mariachi, if i'm lucky," Humble ISD Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen said.