H.D. Cooke Elementary School Modernization

Mayor Fenty Cuts The Ribbon For Cooke!

2009-07-31T09:10:00.002-04:00

On July 29th, Mayor Fenty, Councilmember Jim Graham and an enthusiastic crowd cut the ribbon to officially dedicate the modernized Cooke School. Although the School will not be officially open until August 24th, parents and community members were allowed a brief look at the new Library/Media Center, with its restored balconies and skylight. Construction workers will be busy from now until school starts, taking care of final details, preparing the school for an onslaught of staff and students.

Landscaping shaping up; planning for the big move!

2009-05-31T19:05:00.002-04:00

Landscaping, gardens and play areas are taking shape. The huge cast concrete stormwater

filter tanks have been buried; the retaining walls and entry ramps are almost complete on

the front, south side and rear of the building. Cooke Principal Kathleen Black has received 400 cardboard boxes to start packing up for the big move. It should be a busy summer!

Down To The Wire (and floor tile and kitchen sink!)

2009-04-30T20:48:00.002-04:00

We just toured the building yesterday with Principal Black, Project Managers Akilah Darden and Beth Penfield, Tony Robinson from the Office of Facilities Modernization, and Anthony deGuzman from the Chancellor's Office. It's looking great, and by great, I mean unbelievable!

It's hard to imagine that this was awarded the distinction of Worst DC Public Elementary Facility by the Corps of Engineers in 1999 - it is shaping up to be a really great place to teach and learn.

We recently asked for the 'Fresh Cook' program, run by Chartwells/Thompson Food Service, to be included in the Kitchen. This is a new system of breakfast and lunch delivery where, instead of precooking the food at a central kitchen, packaging and delivering to individual schools where it's reheated, Fresh Cook brings fresh, locally-grown, organic when possible, healthy food to be cooked onsite. Not only is the food lower in fat, salt, sugar and cholesterol (and tastes great), but it offers the possibility of students preparing and cooking food that they have grown in their schoolyard gardens - this in turn, makes them more receptive to trying new things, like broccoli, that they otherwise might reject. In the process, they learn about nutrition and healthy eating, which can address obesity in children and their families.Go DCPS!

Cooke School Enters The Home Stretch

2009-03-30T23:20:00.003-04:00

Lots of progress to report: Gymnasium closed in, elevator/stairwell almost finished,

second sand filter buried in South greenspace to capture stormwater headed to Euclid St.

Proposal by School Improvement Team to implement the DCPS 'Fresh Cook' program which brings fresh food cooked on-site, with a healthy diet lower in salt, sugar, cholesterol; hopefully to partner with Whole Foods Market's 'City Fresh' program, started in Baltimore, that brings locally-grown organic food for students and also for families.

Major construction closing in !

2008-12-30T21:27:00.004-05:00

The Gymnasium, otherwise known as the CafeGymnaTorium is well on its way to completion in the last month of 2008.

New CafeGymnaTorium Rises At Cooke!

2008-11-30T21:44:00.006-05:00

The new Gymnasium/Cafeteria/Auditorium takes shape behind the original 1908 building. The fabricated steel beams that make up the upper walls were so big they needed all three lanes of Mozart Place to maneuver the flatbed 18-wheelers that brought them to the site. It's reeeally big, much bigger than it looks on paper. The original Assembly Room, quite the innovation of its time, now becomes the Library/Media Center. With 22-foot classic columns, balconies and newly opened skylight, it will look even better than when it was built, 100 years ago.

Starting To Look Like A School!

2008-09-30T11:12:00.002-04:00

Lots of progress on Cooke School - Major structural modifications are out of the way,

new electric service taking shape, new front entrance visible, elevator/stairwell coming together.

Pace accelerating on H.D. Cooke modernization

2008-07-31T22:22:00.003-04:00

Here's the latest from the H.D. Cooke Elementary School modernization project.

As you can see, the giant rainwater collection cistern (tank) has been buried under the parking lot area next to Mozart place.

We hope to bring you some short video clips as we tour the building-in-progress.

Aerial view of H.D.Cooke Modernization

2008-06-30T21:02:00.002-04:00

This is a recent aerial view of the H.D. Cooke Elementary School Modernization Project. The view is from the northeast corner of the site, looking west at the back of the school and over 17th Street. Visible at the bottom center is a long tan shape, the rainwater collection cistern, soon to be buried under the parking lot. Above that is a gray oval which is about where the new Gymnasium/Auditorium and Cafeteria will be. The bright blue rectangle in the center of the old building is the original skylight over the old Auditorium, which will now be the Library/Media Center. The skylight will be restored to illuminate the magnificent two-story (with balconies!) Media Center. The South Playground, the tan area at upper center, has been cleared and for now is being used for materials storage and crew parking. Later it will be excavated for the basketball court and street-level access to Euclid Street.

Rainwater collection system!

2008-05-28T09:47:00.002-04:00

A giant underground rainwater collection tank, or cistern, has been installed under the future parking lot of Cooke School. Rain runoff from the roof will be collected, stored in the cistern and used to irrigate the vegetation around the school. This reduces the need to use city-supplied water, and reduces the rapid runoff after rains that can carry pollutants into the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.

New Views of Cooke Modernization

2008-05-02T10:12:00.003-04:00

Here are some new progress photos by ANC1C06 Commissioner Nancy Shia; these guys are crankin! Photo #1 is looking south from the back of the old (1908) building toward the 1959 addition. One bank of windows has been removed to allow for modifications - we'll get back to you on what's going on after we talk to Tony Barton, Project Manager for Gilbane Building Company. Tony will be our contact over the next 15 months to keep us informed, give us advance notice of any traffic or parking arrangements, and answer questions about our little school.

Photo #2 is looking north on the 17th Street side; it shows the front of the 1908 building where the new ADA-compatible front entrance will be added at street level, just north of the existing basement classroom doors.

Major construction is underway!

2008-04-25T03:11:00.007-04:00

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

2008-04-24T18:06:00.007-04:00

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.