Following a series of workshops with the Clark County School District, it was determined that additional facilities for secondary education were needed; and could be accomplished as new career & technical academies. A list of environmentally responsive, vocationally specific academic buildings was created. Each academy focuses on "project based" learning, meaning students spend the majority of the day in their related academy. The design of each academy was focused on the "heart" of the academic discipline-commonly incarnated in the form of large lab spaces, centrally located within each building. The remaining design radiated from its core, with the exterior of the building being a product of functionality. From the corridor, views into the classrooms and lab spaces make learning visible; constantly reinforcing the values and goals within each discipline. "Portals" are applied in these locations on both the interior and exterior, and are designed to act as a "billboard" for each individual academy. A building designation is given to each academy in the form of a specific color, which is then applied to the inside of the portals. Each academic building has several multipurpose classrooms to help augment a student's education with courses in Math, English, History and Science. Centralized work areas for teachers afford them the opportunity to collaborate on curriculum integration in addition to providing a sense of community. Currently, two campuses have been completed with a third under construction. Each of the sites responds uniquely to its surroundings. Veterans Tribute Career and Technical Academy sits in a dense area of Las Vegas, and has a very restricted site. This, in combination with programmatic requirements necessitated the primary use of two story buildings. The three-two story and two-one story buildings fit tightly together, forming intimate, yet unique and interesting public spaces in the interstice between each academy.