Major construction is underway!

Major construction is underway - asbestos was removed and exterior brickwork was repaired while plans were made to replace the connection between the original (1909/1922) sections of the school and the 1959 addition.  Someone in their infinite wisdom had decided to build the addition half-a-floor below the old building, so there was an awkward connecting stairway that needed to be replaced to include an elevator to provide ADA access to the entire modernized facility.

In the photo at right, looking north, the building on the right (with the hole where the stairs used to be) is the 1959 addition, the left building is the 1922 addition, and straight ahead is part of the original 1909 school.   A History of Architecture lesson all in one photo!

To connect the existing parts of the school with each other and to the new CafeGymnaTorium* on ground level, there will be glass-roofed all-weather walkways, like streets, maybe even with street names! 

*CafeGymnaTorium - Technical term for the combination Cafeteria-Gymnasium-Auditorium 

Start here - a little background info

   H.D. Cooke Elementary School, in the Adams Morgan section of Washington, DC, is at the beginning of an 18-month modernization project that will totally transform the historic school, just in time to reopen on its 100th birthday in Summer 2009.  In 1999 the school was awarded the dubious distinction of Worst Elementary School Facility out of 105 elementary schools in the DC Public Schools system.

   Modernization was supposed to start in 2003, but problems within the old DCPS system and the DC Government delayed the project.   The original modernization architects literally left town a few years ago, and a new team consisting of Quinn Evans Architects and Gilbane Construction Management took over in 2007.  The good news is that Quinn Evans and Gilbane are a proven team and one of the best at school renovation.

  

Quinn Evans specializes in 'Sustainable Preservation'; that is,

taking a sound historic building, upgrading the structure and the mechanical systems (heating/cooling, electric, water, communications) to create a healthy, energy-efficient, environment-friendly place for teachers to teach and children to learn.

More good news is that the new DC City Administration headed by Mayor Adrian Fenty, new Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, and the new DC Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization, with Allen Lew as Director, have committed to building and renovating schools to meet the requirements of the US Green Building Council's 'LEED-Schools' rating system, with a minimum rating of 'LEED-Schools Silver'.   This means that the modernized schools will achieve very good air quality, lighting and acoustics, energy efficiency and water conservation, as well as recycling facilities and other environmentally-responsible 'green' features.