The design approach to the Southwest Career & Technical Academy (SWCTA) centered on highlighting academy relevance to a student’s education and future, which also included the fostering of a sense of community amongst the students. The design of the campus emulates that of a higher education campus, achieving a heightened sense of excitement and professionalism in students toward their peers as well as their chosen fields. The central courtyard serves as a unifying and organizing element, and all academy buildings are placed around it. This strategy allows for each building to express a relationship with the site and with the other buildings. The soft desert landscape and its warm colors informed the color selection for SWCTA. The buildings themselves retain a more contemporary formal composition as a nod to the innovation that occurs on campus. Major gathering spaces are denoted by the use of vibrant orange and red that connect the site to the surrounding desert landscape of the southwest Las Vegas Valley and Red Rock Canyon beyond.