PROJECT Rocketship DC 2
LOCATION Washington DC, District of Columbia US
PROJECT COMPLETION DATE 10/1/2017
ARCHITECT Shinberg.Levinas Architects
ASSOCIATED ARCHITECT/DESIGNER
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN TEAM Salo Levinas, Milton Shinberg, Matthew Pickner, Maria Gorodetskaya
OWNER/CLIENT Rocketship PCS
CONTRACTOR/CONSTRUCTION MANAGER MCN BUILD
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT WILES MENSCH
PHOTOGRAPHER Alan Karchmer
CIVIL ENGINEER WILES MENSCH
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER EHLERT/BRYANT , INC
MECHANICAL ENGINEER Capitol Engineering Group
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
CONSULTANT
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SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT
This is a 53,000 SF Pre-K, Kinder and Elementary School building hosting 800 students. The school includes 26 classrooms, 3 special education classrooms, 2 group learning centers, multi-purpose cafeteria, lobby, nurse’s suite, administration offices, gym and a welcoming agora space with built-in step seating. The school offers a high-performance building design and a sustainable learning environment. The project achieved LEED PLATINUM Certification.
The T-shaped site, nested among a dense neighborhood and a large water tank, forced us to find a creative way to insert the building and to find interesting vistas. We allowed the giant blue “spaceship”, the watertank, to “land” just in front of the school and guide the students to the main school entrance. The children are encouraged to learn about sustainability walking on the bridge over the water retention pond. The building dialogues with the neighboring houses thanks to its moderate scale, repetition of roof dormers and choice of cladding materials. The school becomes a part of the community to which it belongs. The Rocketship public school model, based on the rotation of four learning blocks every day, Humanities, STEM, Learning Lab and Enrichment is embedded in the project layout plan. The Rocketship mission, to allow all kids to unleash their potential, is exemplified in the dynamic and clean design intent.
JURY COMMENTS (If applicable)
They jury appreciated the clean lines of the project and dynamic interiors spaces. It is commendable to achieve a LEED platinum certification for this project type. The scale of the project blends well with the surrounding neighborhood. The designers picked moves carefully and executed them superbly. There is a clarity of intent that shines through on this project.
MEDIA FOR DOWNLOAD
Project/Jury PDF
IMAGES (Captions and Photographer Credit)
1. Rocketship 2 DC High Res ext 1 Alan Karchmer
2. Rocketship 2 DC High Res ext 2 Alan Karchmer
3. Rocketship 2 DC Low Res ext 1 Alan Karchmer
4. Rocketship 2 DC Low Res ext 2 Alan Karchmer
5. Rocketship 2 DC Low Res ext 3 Alan Karchmer
6. Rocketship 2 DC Low Res ext 4 Alan Karchmer
7. Rocketship 2 DC Low Res int 5 Alan Karchmer
8. Rocketship 2 DC Low Res int 6 Alan Karchmer
Rocketship DC 2
Category
Local > AIA Potomac Valley > Institutional Architecture (AIA Potomac Valley)
Winner Status
- Honor Award
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