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Originally constructed in 1939 as a vocational school, Dorothy Height Elementary School has served as several different educational facilities before DCPS took control of operations in 2015. A citywide school located in Ward 4, Dorothy Height Elementary consisted of the 1939 main building and the annex, a 1925 building that served as a school for children with tuberculosis. A drive aisle connected the main building and the annex, but posed as a safety concern to students crossing from one building to the other. In addition to the safety risk presented by the detached buildings, the school did not meet modern education standards.
CGS Architect’s modernization connects the main building and the annex while thoughtfully preserving the buildings’ historic character. In place of the drive aisle, a two-story addition merges the disconnected buildings and provides space to meet program needs. The new, ADA compliant main entry, accessed via the addition, opens up to a double height commons and a cafeteria, illuminated by skylights.
Although located on a tight urban site, CGS Architects’ design maximizes outdoor space. The addition features a roof terrace accessed from the third floor level of the main building and age specific outdoor areas at grade.
St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School is an independent Episcopal, college preparatory day school in Alexandria, VA. Created from a 1991 merger of two K-12 schools, the current Upper School serves students from 9th-12th grade. Last updated in 1996, the Upper School’s small classrooms, outdated design, deficient dining facilities, and isolated science labs were inadequate for modern education standards.
St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School commissioned CGS Architects for a renovation and addition of the Upper School, following the completion of a Master Plan and updated Strategic Plan under separate contract.
The 35,000 sf addition provides state-of-the-art science labs, art studios, new kitchen and a large, double height ceiling dining room. Featuring a central staircase with adjacent sitting steps at the heart of the additon, the student commons acts as the school’s core. The commons connects the surrounding labs, studios, and dining area, and with ample seating, creates an inviting space for students to learn, study, eat, and socialize with eachother. Skylights above the commons and floor-to-ceiling windows in the dining hall provide natural light, welcoming students to collaborate.
Founded in 1789, Georgetown Preparatory School is the oldest Catholic all-boys school in the United States. Serving approximately 120 residential students and 380 day students from grades 9 through 12, Georgetown Prep occupies a 320 acre campus in North Bethesda. In an effort to provide much needed upgrades and modernizations to living facilities on campus, CGS Architects was commissioned to design the new Campus Center and Residence Hall.
Situated on the north end of campus, adjacent to the stadium and across from the Chapel, the new, five-story, 82,500 sf building houses all residential students and dorm parents. In response to input from current students, recent graduates, older alumni, and the school, CGS Architects designed the first floor to feature several common areas, including a family kitchen with an island that seats 8 and table that seats 14, and family living room with a wood burning fireplace and comfortable lounge seating. These rooms serve as a central hub for the students, a space the previous dormitories lacked. Strengthening the sense of community and belonging, residential students now have a space to gather, share meals, and host friends.
Furthermore, freshmen, who were previously isolated to a class-specific dorm building on campus can now participate in the camaraderie and brotherhood that Georgetown Prep is known for, and upperclassmen can role model to the younger students. While the main floor of the new residence hall provides the opportunity for the full residential community to come together, the second through fourth floors are separated by class. Each floor contains a lounge overlooking the football field and a pantry for students to eat, socialize, and complete homework. The fourth and fifth floors for the juniors and seniors offer more shared space between classes with a two-story pantry. The fourth floor also features a library, reflecting the academic importance of junior year, and the fifth floor, a terrace overlooking the stadium below.
In addition to students, dorm parents, who previously lived in dorm style rooms with shared amenities, now enjoy private apartments equipped with full kitchens, laundry, and bathrooms. A new faculty lounge with a fireplace and big windows provides peaceful respite between responsibilities.
The Campus Center and Residence Hall also houses a 140 seat auditorium that can accommodate the full residential community for dorm meetings, Friday night movies and weekend sporting events. The space is also shared with the school for lectures and recitals. The residential dean’s office, international student office, infirmary, sports equipment storage and guest suite also occupy the first floor.
Early Childhood Academy is a public charter school serving students from across Washington, DC from Pre-Kindergarten 3 through 3rd Grade. Their mission is to foster the academic and social/emotional development of each student in a safe and holistic learning environment. Early Childhood aims to equip all students with the knowledge and tools to become high achievers, proficient readers, and critical thinkers. They seek to create a strong educational foundation for their students so they will thrive for a lifetime as productive and caring citizens.
Since its founding in 2005, Early Childhood Academy has operated from two disparate, non-school use centers on adjacent properties in the Washington Highlands neighborhood in Ward 8. The genesis of what would become the Early Childhood building started with the Menkiti Group, a DC based, mission-driven developer focused on transforming lives, careers, and communities through real estate. Menkiti was advising Early Childhood on purchasing a space of their own as they struggled to meet the needs of their students in a less than ideal physical space, when they learned that a vacant church on the adjacent site was for sale.
CGS Architects was commissioned to develop an affordable, creative design solution for the future home of Early Childhood Academy on the site of the abandoned 2-story brick church. The church was gutted and fully renovated with a new community gathering space created in the original sanctuary and Pre-K / Kindergarten below.
A 30,000sf addition was added to the southeastern side of the existing church. Given the steep nature of the site, a 3-story, concrete frame addition was set into the hillside. A brightly colored opening in an exposed concrete base welcomes students at the main entrance, and 2-story classroom volumes with large translucent windows sit on top of the base. The 1st Grade classrooms are located on the second floor of the addition, adjacent to the Pre-K and Kindergarten wing with direct connection to a new outdoor playground, and the 2nd and 3rd Grade Classrooms are located on the top level with connection to the multipurpose room and the north entrance. Large stairs at the center of the building with bold wall graphics connect the 3 floors and creates identity for each floor.
The project has been transformational to the Early Childhood and the community. The educators and students have a home they deserve where young students have a place to grow and thrive in an environment designed uniquely for them.
The Langley School is an independent day school in McLean, Virginia serving 480 students from kindergarten through 8th grade. Founded upon a deep appreciation for childhood, and an abiding belief in the necessity and power of parent/teacher partnership, the Langley School offers a nurturing community with an individually attuned academic program –proving both to be mutually reinforcing and equally essential to a child’s development and education.
In 2010, CGS and the Langley School developed a Campus Master Plan to guide long-term facility growth and facilitate incremental campus development. The plan represented a bold and ambitious direction for the school and the culmination of several years of detailed discussion and planning. At its core, the Campus Master Plan focused on development of a simple and coherent group of buildings organized around a central green to complement existing structures. The Campus was conceived as a series of use zones: public & private, vehicular & pedestrian, and academic & play. Vehicle parking was reworked to create a controlled traffic flow that allows for bus loading and car pick-up/drop-off to occur on the public/vehicular facing side of Campus, ensuring safe separation between students and vehicles. The Administration Building is intentionally placed at this entrance as the “gatekeeper” for visual security and administrative control. A landscaped campus green forms a central open space around which all new buildings are organized which forms a continuous edge along the south side of the green.
From this original vision grew the Crossroads Building. By formal definition, a Crossroads is a junction, a place of intersection and a central meeting place. For Langley, this became the first building on campus to house programmatic functions that would engage their entire student body over the course of each day: academics, Library, music, after-school programs, and a multipurpose room. It was envisioned to be a Caring Community hub: a place of social interaction and scholastic engagement which is a Cornerstone of Langley’s Mission.
The now completed Crossroads Building serves as a gathering space for all Langley students and teachers. The building was convinced with extensive stakeholder engagement to ensure the program spaces, furnishings, interior finishes, and overall plan fit the current and future needs of the Langley School. The building is organized on three levels connected by a light-filled central stairwell with highly controlled access to each area for student safety. The first level is home to the youngest learners, bringing all the Primary School classes together under one roof. The second level holds the Library, Innovation/Technology Lab, and the 5th Grade Commons and classrooms. To Langley, this is a pivotal year for a student. They are developing skills and taking healthy risks to become independent, responsible, and caring leaders as they prepare for Middle School. Abundant natural light fills the academic spaces and filters through into central gathering spaces, connecting all program areas visually. The Library’s lofted ceiling creates an inviting atmosphere that supports discovery for all ages in the Langley Community.
The Crossroads Building illustrates how a building can become the physical manifestation of an educational program and create a vibrant setting that gathers, connects, and changes.
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School is the oldest Catholic high school for girls in the United States, founded in 1799 and is run by the Sisters of Visitation. Visitation focuses on educational excellence and empowering its students to meet the demands and challenges of a rapidly changing and morally complex world. Visitation is dedicated to balancing academic challenges with co-curricular activities and community service in order to develop intellectually mature and morally responsible women of faith, vision, and purpose. Over the years, Visitation has grown and needed to address two pressing needs at the School: to meet the demand for an adequately-sized and appointed classroom space and to upgrade the School’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) classroom.
CGS Architects’ design features a glass hyphen serving as the Saint’s Connector linking St. Joseph’s Hall to the adjacent St. Bernard Library. This light filled, enclosed 2-story volume creates a new entrance for the academic facility and houses a highly-used and trafficked student commons. The glass and exposed steel expression contrasts the heavy masonry skin of the adjacent historic structures. The 2-story north connector addition balances the mass and scale of the existing historic St. Bernard Library – originally constructed in 1895 and converted to educational space in 1959 – with a form that is derived from the original architecture. The glass curtain wall ties the new addition to the new entrance link and creates light-filled academic spaces.
The STEM Center is located to the back of the Saint’s Connector, utilizing the light provided through the large glass walls. The exterior wall of the Center opens entirely to the rear patio area giving the students exterior working space. The natural light and openness of the Connector is an inviting space where students congregate to study, work, and enjoy one another’s company.
Berchmans Hall to the north of St. Joseph’s Hall houses art studios, science labs, and other classroom spaces. The addition features small breakouts spaces with whiteboards where students can be found reviewing test results or preparing for an upcoming final.
The owners purchased property in Alexandria, Virginia overlooking the Potomac River with an existing Arts & Craftsman bungalow on a heavily sloped site. The wife envisioned modern, clean lines, in direct contrast to the husband’s desire to have something resembling old timber cabins with heavy stone, reminiscent of previous summers on a lake.
The design approach was not complicated: respect the original context of the site while blending the desires of both husband and wife. To this end, the contemporary interpretation of a simple gabled roof farmhouse is immediately recognizable as traditional massing. The home is built as two identifiable structures, one large and one small, connected-by one-story glass and mahogany trimmed hyphens. Though traditional in form, the spaces and detailing are distinctly modern. Floor to ceiling windows front the water offering dramatic views of the Potomac River and rolling farmland beyond. Interior spaces connect to exterior stone terraces, a roof deck, and balconies, creating a seamless flow between the indoors and the exterior. Utilizing traditional massing and rustic materials paired with modern spaces and detailing, the Alexandria Residence successfully marries the owners’ preferences by taking full advantage of a contemporary aesthetic grounded in traditional forms and materials.
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church (est. 1961) is located on a six-acre wooded lot in historic Arlington, Virginia. This 1963 structure was originally envisioned as the first step in a multi-phased construction and expansion plan. The structure consisted only of a nave, narthex, kitchen, and several offices and classrooms. The facility was expanded in 1977 to accommodate a growing religious community. Yet as the congregation expanded, church leadership realized that the original plan was impeding their vision for the Church’s growth. To this end, they sought assistance in identifying specific programming needs and conceptual design alternatives for improvement of their buildings and grounds to create a parish with “welcoming and inspiring spaces for both now and future families worship in a community of inclusion, aspiring to tell and exemplify God's love for every human being.”
CGS Architects built on the Church’s simple physical beauty tied to developing a renovation and addition that focused on the congregation’s numerous programmatic priorities: expanded Narthex space, improved Sunday School facilities, addition of a Parish Hall, administrative updates, musical facility improvements, and universal accessibility throughout. The design features a reconfigured front entrance oriented toward site arrival with an iconic Church steeple, sheltering loggia, and clearly identifiable front door. Inside, a light filled Narthex stretches between the existing Nave and new fellowship hall to create ample space for social events with multiple venues for adult education and formal gatherings. A contemplative Chapel is located at the rear of the existing Nave and configured to allow expanded worship capacity when required. The highly collaborative effort was supported by an active and inspired congregation to ensure that the new plan reflects the spirit, the culture, and the aspirations, of this welcoming parish community.
The Old Presbyterian Meeting House, one of the oldest congregations in the city of Alexandria, Virginia acquired the adjacent historic Elliot House property as a bequest from former church members. The ca. 1844 Greek Revival residence is significant within Alexandria Virginia’s Old and Historic District both for both the age and quality of its architecture and as a former residence for several prominent community members. The gable roofed house is distinguished by subtle details including painted, beaded wood shiplap siding, molded brick water table coursing, decorative door and window surrounds and wrought iron railings. Functionally incorporating the house property into the Church grounds required conformance with the Alexandria Board of Architectural Review mandates to preserve this unique piece of Alexandria’s residential architectural heritage while meeting the pressing program needs of an active, urban church.
In order to follow the city’s strict requirements to maintain the open corner space of the property, CGS Architects proposed that new construction be placed below grade and to the rear of the original structure, causing much of the new project to not be readily discernable. Two non-original structures were removed and the restored historic house was returned to its original street presence within a walled, landscaped garden setting that maintains an open street corner. The south garden forms a welcoming outdoor terrace for receptions and social functions while acting as a garden roof for the skylit, underground meeting hall space. To the north of the house, a new landscaped connection to the Old Meeting House grounds is made through a portal in the old brick garden wall separating the two properties and allowing direct access to the administrative offices and meeting rooms from the church. A new two-story rear addition contains the primary support and core elements including an elevator, fire stair, bathrooms, and mechanical spaces, that allow the original floor plan of the historic house to be restored. The new addition makes quiet references to the rooflines, windows, and materials of the original house and connects it to the underground meeting hall. The open rear porch of the house and the first-floor interior parlors are used as restored period reception rooms complimenting activities in the Church worship space.
The Department of Labor’s Potomac Job Corps Center provides on-the-job training in a variety of programs. Their mission is to educate and train highly motivated young people with the skills needed to become employable and independent. The existing campus was disorganized and required extensive renovations and modernizations to fit their growing program. Existing structures included several multi-story brick buildings, a small recreation facility with pool, and several dormitories. CGS Architects was commissioned to develop a comprehensive campus Mater Plan and subsequently execute the design of their initial four project phases.
To bring order to the campus, CGS Architects created the Central Quad with a new campus-wide axial path connecting north and south program buildings. Buried below this common green space on the northern side, a field of geothermal wells smartly provide constant 55° water to its high performing mechanical systems year-round, hidden from view, but appreciably reducing the Job Corps annual operating costs. Along the south edge of the Central Quad, the Cafeteria and Recreation Center (Phase 1) includes substantial site and utility improvements. The new 17,000 SF Recreation Center houses common rooms, exercise studios, weight rooms, arts & crafts studios, a TV / movie hall, multipurpose rooms, a canteen, and full showers and lockers. The existing pool was renovated, and outdoor playing fields and a gymnasium were added. The 18,000 SF, 350-Seat Cafeteria and Culinary Arts Building were designed with the main dining room facing the Central Quad and service to the back. These new structures provide a natural hub for students and staff alike. With thoughtfully applied glazing around the perimeter, the warm glow they emit in the evening further reinforces the welcoming nature of these facilities, encouraging gathering and fellowship, and complementing their more formal programmed uses: dining, recreation, and instruction. Subsequently, CGS Architects designed two new residence halls (272 beds total) located on the eastern edge of the campus. The two dorms were conceived as counterpart buildings mirroring one another while framing the Central Quad. Each building features a simple palette of materials, a soaring roof announces the entry way and common areas with sun-filled, double-height volume marking the center of activity. The signature “butterfly” metal roof collects rainwater, diverting it into common planters. These two buildings serve as an economical solution to housing a large and active community in an open, convenient, and comfortable, but also secure environment, allowing students to focus on their education and training.