School Gets Fresh Start as Major Project Breaks Ground in Nation’s Capitol

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The project team recently broke ground on the $124 million Ballou Senior High School project in Washington, D.C., which will replace the original 1950s school building.

The project is a joint venture between Washington, D.C.-based Chiaramonte Construction and Gaithersburg-based HESS Construction. The team was selected by the Department of General Services as the design-builder for the new facility. The project is being designed by Bowie Gridley Architects and PGN Architects, both based in Washington, D.C., as well as San Francisco-based Perkins + Will.

Located on a 16.5-acre site and covering 350,000 square feet of space, the project will include a three-story design with over 90 classrooms. The expansive project is also seeking LEED Gold certification upon completion.

The school serves students grades 9-12 in a neighborhood in southeastern Washington, D.C., which has a reputation of high crime, drugs and violence. Recognizing this, the design team approached the project with the students in mind and wanted to provide them a fresh, new building for a clean start. The design will include X-ray machines at the school’s entrances in order to help create and monitor a safe environment for students who come from the economically disadvantaged community.

The school will feature high-performance glazing, enhanced lighting controls and the use of materials that emit lower volatile organic compounds, according to HESS Construction.

The project has been running smoothly, according to HESS, although there were some early issues that resulted in increased construction in order to alleviate the problem. There were unsuitable soils underneath the building pad that caused the construction team to incorporate caissons into the foundation design in order to overcome the issue, according to Todd Ward, vice president of educational facilities and services for HESS.

Students were told about the new school when architects visited the school on May 10, 2012 and gave the students details about the project. Since then, students, staff and the community have been anxiously awaiting the school’s completion, scheduled for 2015.

Eye-Catching Interiors
• Fine arts center
• State-of-the-art auditorium
• Two-story cafeteria
• More than 90 classrooms
• 13 science and biotechnology labs
• Multiple computer labs
• Exhibition-style teaching kitchen
• Auto-tech lab
• Group learning spaces
• Spacious courtyard
• Library
• Band room
• Media production studio
• Parent resource center
• Childcare center
• Health/dental center
• Athletic wing with indoor track, pool, gym, classrooms and fitness center

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Sidwell Green Roof

WASHINGTON — The Furbish Co., a provider of sustainable roofs based in Baltimore, recently completed the design and installation of a 7,850-square-foot living roof at the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.

The project involved replanting of the original roof on the middle school building, where the plants had not adapted well to the more extreme conditions of a rooftop. When the decision was made to replant the roof, officials at Sidwell Friends commissioned Furbish, which then removed the soil from the middle school roof and replaced it with a special soil blend meant to enhance plant growth and drainage within a rooftop environment. Regional plants, like sedges and sedums, were replanted by hand at one-foot centers, allowing room for growth.

Crews also mounded up areas of deeper soil in several locations to better hold perennial accent plants, such as native grasses and spread cuttings randomly across the soil to fill in gaps between plugs. These half-inch long pieces of material will eventually root and create a green carpet.

Furbish will maintain the roof over a two-year contractual period.

Sidwell Friends Middle School, founded by Quakers in 1883, was the first K-12 school in the United States to earn LEED Platinum certification, as the school did in 2007.

The refurbished roof will provide an educational laboratory for its students to learn about the issues surrounding water reuse and conservation. Science teachers plan to use the roof for hands-on learning and research. The green roof will also reduce urban heat island effect and filter rainwater.

Learn more about Furbish Company’s living roofs and walls at www.furbishco.com.

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School Gets Fresh Start as Major Project Breaks Ground in Nation’s Capitol

Sidwell Green Roof