The Heights, Bjarke Ingels Group’s first U.S. public school, merges two existing secondary schools (H-B Woodlawn and Eunice Kennedy Shriver) into one 180,000-sf building with space for up to 775 students.
The project, located in Arlington, Va., is situated on a compact site bounded by roads on three sides and a portion of Rosslyn Highlands Park. The Heights supports the visual and performing arts-focused curricula of H-B Woodlawn and the extensive resources for students with specialized educational needs of Enice Kennedy Shriver.
Students and staff are greeted by a triple-height lobby with stepped seating that doubles as an indoor gathering space for student assemblies and public gatherings. Adjacent to the lobby are many of the school’s common spaces including the 400-seat auditorium, main gymnasium, library, reception, and cafeteria. Other student spaces include an art studio, science and robotic labs, music rehearsal rooms, and two performing arts theaters.
See Also: Eight projects showcase the latest trends in student housing
Classroom bars, each defined by its own color, are the primary organizing elements and surround a central vertical core that contains the elevators, stairs, and bathrooms. The Shriver Program occupies two floors of the building, which are accessible from the ground floor and have specialized spaces dedicated to support APS’ Functional Life Skills program as well as privacy and ease of accessibility. The gym, courtyard, occupational physical therapy suite, and sensory cottage are designed to aid in sensory processing.
The building is conceived as a stack of five rectangular floorplates that rotate around a fixed pivot point, which creates a cascade of green terraces. The terraces become an extension of the classroom to create an indoor-outdoor learning landscape. The four tiered terraces are connected via a rotating central staircase that cuts through the interior of the building, allowing students to circulate outside. The upper terraces are suitable for intimate classes and quiet study areas while the spacious first terrace and the 18,700-sf recreation field serve as public event venues.
White glazed brick unifies the five volumes and highlights the oblique angles of the fanning classroom bars. The material palette pays homage to the historical architecture of Old Town Alexandria.
The Heights is on track to achieve LEED Gold. Bjarke Ingles Group designed the project with LEO A DALY as the executive architect.
Related Stories
K-12 Schools | Apr 13, 2023
Creating a sense of place with multipurpose K-12 school buildings
Multipurpose buildings serve multiple program and functional requirements. The issue with many of these spaces is that they tend not to do any one thing well.
Urban Planning | Apr 12, 2023
Watch: Trends in urban design for 2023, with James Corner Field Operations
Isabel Castilla, a Principal Designer with the landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations, discusses recent changes in clients' priorities about urban design, with a focus on her firm's recent projects.
Market Data | Apr 11, 2023
Construction crane count reaches all-time high in Q1 2023
Toronto, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Denver top the list of U.S/Canadian cities with the greatest number of fixed cranes on construction sites, according to Rider Levett Bucknall's RLB Crane Index for North America for Q1 2023.
University Buildings | Apr 11, 2023
Supersizing higher education: Tracking the rise of mega buildings on university campuses
Mega buildings on higher education campuses aren’t unusual. But what has been different lately is the sheer number of supersized projects that have been in the works over the last 12–15 months.
Contractors | Apr 10, 2023
What makes prefabrication work? Factors every construction project should consider
There are many factors requiring careful consideration when determining whether a project is a good fit for prefabrication. JE Dunn’s Brian Burkett breaks down the most important considerations.
Smart Buildings | Apr 7, 2023
Carnegie Mellon University's research on advanced building sensors provokes heated controversy
A research project to test next-generation building sensors at Carnegie Mellon University provoked intense debate over the privacy implications of widespread deployment of the devices in a new 90,000-sf building. The light-switch-size devices, capable of measuring 12 types of data including motion and sound, were mounted in more than 300 locations throughout the building.
Architects | Apr 6, 2023
New tool from Perkins&Will will make public health data more accessible to designers and architects
Called PRECEDE, the dashboard is an open-source tool developed by Perkins&Will that draws on federal data to identify and assess community health priorities within the U.S. by location. The firm was recently awarded a $30,000 ASID Foundation Grant to enhance the tool.
Architects | Apr 6, 2023
Design for belonging: An introduction to inclusive design
The foundation of modern, formalized inclusive design can be traced back to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. The movement has developed beyond the simple rules outlined by ADA regulations resulting in features like mothers’ rooms, prayer rooms, and inclusive restrooms.
Sustainability | Apr 4, 2023
NIBS report: Decarbonizing the U.S. building sector will require massive, coordinated effort
Decarbonizing the building sector will require a massive, strategic, and coordinated effort by the public and private sectors, according to a report by the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS).
Education Facilities | Apr 3, 2023
Oklahoma’s Francis Tuttle Technology Center opens academic center for affordable education and training
Oklahoma’s Francis Tuttle Technology Center, which provides career-specific training to adults and high school students, has completed its Francis Tuttle Danforth Campus—a two-story, 155,000-sf academic building. The project aims to fill the growing community’s rising demand for affordable education and training.
