Stoddert Elementary School
4001 Calvert Street, NW Washington, DC 20007View interactive green kiosk
View Press Release
DC’s First Geothermal School
Just 19 months after design started, Stoddert Elementary School is ready for the first day of school. The existing 17,900 square foot building, originally built in 1932, has been complemented and completed by a 47,300 square foot addition that honors the historic architecture while also tapping the opportunities presented by sustainable, contemporary design to create a great 21st Century school campus for the families of the District of Columbia. Stoddert provides state-of-the-art learning environments.Each student will have a home base within one of the 14 modernized and new classrooms, each featuring flexible furniture, wireless networking, interactive whiteboards, plentiful display opportunities, storage, drinking fountains and sinks, abundant natural light as well as gracious views of the surrounding landscape. Complementing the classrooms are a host of resources not previously available to the school including: a gymnasium, media center, cafeteria and multi-purpose art/science room.
The building will enhance learning and inspire environmental stewardship. Stoddert has been designed to take advantage of the school’s culture and site to create a campus that will become a sustainable inspiration for the entire community. Projected to achieve LEED for Schools Gold, the building will enhance learning by optimizing acoustics, enhancing indoor air quality, providing for thermal control/comfort, providing pervasive natural light and by engaging the students and community in understanding how the design conserves resources.
For example, Stoddert is the first school in the District of Columbia to be fully served by a ground source heating and cooling (aka: “geothermal”) system. An interactive kiosk will enable Stoddert’s “Energy Patrol” and their classmates to analyze the building’s use of energy and other resources. This performance data will also be available through the interactive whiteboard in each classroom.
Stoddert is designed to become the center of community. Students and teachers will not be the only ones able to enjoy the facility. Carefully planned with OPEFM, DCPS and DPR, the building and campus have been designed to serve as a school during the day and as a community center after hours. Organized around a two-story central atrium that will become the “heart of the school” the impressively glazed gym with its full-sized basketball court and other resources will be available for use by DPR patrons without disruption to the school program.