Location: Radford, VA
A study was completed that compared the options of renovating two existing schools or constructing a new school on the same site. The final decision was to build a new facility on the existing site of the 1960s school. The school remained occupied during construction of the new facility and was then demolished to create room for athletic fields, paved play courts and walking trails.
The new building incorporates two-story classroom houses that are arranged along a central spine. This layout provides access to the school’s primary functions including the cafetorium, media center, gymnasium, main entry lobby and administrative suite. Despite the available area for development, the building footprint was placed to take advantage of its solar orientation. The new facility was designed with numerous green initiatives that have provided considerable energy savings on an annual basis. A prime example is a daylighting strategy that significantly reduced the size of the central cooling system and reduced the lighting electricity by two-thirds.
