Here are some of the latest renderings for Eagle Academy PCS, a charter school in Washington, DC. We are building an addition to an existing building, with the full complex consisting of mixed use programing, to be built in 3 phases. The exterior of the school wing will be partially clad with a polycarbonate system, to allow more diffused light into the building spaces.

South perspective

playing fields

view: exterior main entrance - polycarbonate cladding

view: main lobby entrance

view: gym interior

The new building is five-stories tall and contains nearly 50,000 square feet of space; it is the new home for 475 pre-K through 8th grade students and a wonderful cadre of teachers and staff.

E.L. Haynes is one of the most prominent charter schools in the Nation’s Capital. It has been recognized through an extensive array of awards and grants, including the Fight for Children’s first-ever Quality Initiative Award, but its most significant achievement is the steady improvement in the achievements of its students. We congratulate E.L.Haynes and we are honored to be their partner.

We are very proud of the integration of all the elements of the project, from the smallest to largest. We worked rigorously to create a building that reflects the school, the site, the demands of good construction, and economy.

E.L.Haynes is an urban school, and its location on a very tight site challenged the entire project team to achieve success. Every inch has been used productively by this collaboration.

The design breaks the mass of the building into smaller scale volumes, to relate both the residential side streets and larger scale of Georgia Avenue. The rich brick color of the neighboring row houses is reflected in both the color of the volumes and the scale. The lighter color stucco volume reduces the visual weight overall.

The building is designed to be open and inviting to the Petworth neighborhood community. The open lobby design makes the school and its students far more transparent, while providing connections to the largest spaces, the multipurpose room below, and sculptural stairs to the gymnasium above. Tall panels for the display of student work are visible as well.

Every classroom is bright, and many offer wonderful long views across the city, particularly from the rooftop playground. Hub spaces support group activity and unify the grades within the lower and middle schools.

The design of the building supports an extensive green roof, and many other features have been incorporated for reducing energy use. Students will be introduced to how their building actually works by having the various systems exposed.

“We’re very proud of what’s been accomplished at this school and we want to make sure that we’re duplicating that success all across the country. So nothing is going to be more important than this. And the recovery and reinvestment act that we’ve put forward will provide billions of dollars to build schools and help with school construction.” President Obama said.

President and Mrs. Obama toured the school, which was renovated by Shinberg.Levinas and opened in 2000. They then read “The Moon Over Star,” a children’s book about Neil Armstrong’s moon landing.

We are very happy to deepen our capabilities in green design through Milton, Stefanie and Will’s accomplishment. By having LEED accredited professionals on our team, Shinberg.Levinas can determine the viability of LEED certification in the early stages of all of our projects. Our sustainable design team also includes a wide range of consultants from mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers to specifications writers.

Cross Mackenzie Ceramic Arts
1054 31st Street
Washington, DC 20007
phone: 202-333-7970