A 850 student facility with expansion capabilities to 900 students is sited on a 35 acre campus in Tucson, Arizona. Valencia sets a precedent as the first facility to be designed incorporating the district’s new middle school concept. There is a micro-campus for each grade 6-8 with its own classrooms and teacher center arranged around a courtyard. These Micro Campuses and the remaining sections of the campus are organized around a large central commons with outdoor amphitheater. Thermal comfort is achieved in the hot desert climate with evaporative cooling towers at each of the 6 sections of the campus. Valencia Middle School was the recipient of a 1994 AIA award.