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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2005

  • Work on this object began.

2007

  • Work on this object ended.

2016

2025

  • You found it!

Edcouch-Elsa Fine Arts Center

This is a Project. It was architect: Muñoz and Company and made for (as the client) Edcouch-Elsa Independent School District. It is dated 2005–07.

Edcouch-Elsa Fine Arts Center is a point of pride for this immigrant community—sited high above the highway, it is visible from all directions. The idea for a civic space emerged from public discussion with students, teachers, folklorists, historians, and artists. Designers drew inspiration from the high school’s fight song or corrido—a narrative musical form used for generations in Latino culture. Brilliant vertical color bands derived from the corrido’s sound-wave pattern envelop the building, echoing the form and colors of the area’s auto shops.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition By the People: Designing a Better America.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/420777919/ |title=Edcouch-Elsa Fine Arts Center |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=11 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>