Anacostia High School
1601 16th Street, SE Washington, DC 20020View Latest Press Release
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Project Overview
Anacostia High School is a 247,000 sq. ft. facility consisting of an original building that was constructed in 1935 and three subsequent additions that occurred in the 1940’s, the 1950’s, and the 1970’s. The school currently houses approximately 950 students and recently received a substantial athletic facility upgrade in 2008.
This project aims to meticulously restore the exterior of the building to maintain its historic appearance while transforming the interior into a simple, modern facility with state-of-the-art learning technologies and communications capabilities with increases in natural light and comforting acoustics.
The modernization effort consists of brand new mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems, new lighting and interior finishes, and technological advancements such as interactive white boards, classroom sound enhancement systems, and numerous computer labs to better-serve its student population. In addition, the school will be completely ADA-accessible and at a minimum shall achieve a LEED for School Silver rating due to its sustainable design considerations. Upon completion, the school will be able to accommodate up to 1,200 students.
Phase 1 (opening August 2011)
- Fully renovated gymnasium building – exposing the building’s roof structure as part of the interior design; and brand new bleachers and athletic equipment.
- Renovated weight room, fitness room, and training room.
- A series of decorative art panels lining the corridors – created by the students of Anacostia High School with the guidance of local artist Sheila Crider (a resident of DC Ward 8 – who has been invited to the ceremony) [made possible through a grant from DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities “DC-Creates!” Public Art Program]
- An underground rainwater harvesting cistern that re-utilizes rainwater within the schools bathroom plumbing and 16,000 square feet of new green roof space. [made possible through over $1.1 million of grant funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Water State Revolving Fund component of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act in association with the District Department of the Environment (DDOE)]
Phase 2 (opening August 2012)
- In total, 50 new classrooms with 8 new science labs, 8 computer labs, and numerous specialized spaces to support the schools various student programs.
- Fully refurbished auditorium equipped with modern theater technologies and adjacent practice rooms for performing arts programs.
- A cafeteria renovation adds both floor space and ceiling height along with brand new skylights and a decorative stairwell open to the floor above.
- State of the art Media Center Library with new skylights and an exposed-structure architectural design.
- A piece by Artist Roberto Delgado, will hang above the renovated cafeteria.