Dunn Loring Elementary School
Fairfax, VA
Size: 124,976 SF
Dunn Loring Elementary School is an new multi-story prototype designed to fit sites under 10 acres. The new school serves as a replacement of the existing school Dunn Loring Administration Building constructed in the late 1930s.
Samaha provided multiple design options with variations in the building plan, location, pedestrian and vehicular circulation, and play areas. Variations in the site plans, floor plans, and renderings were shared with a community design committee for input towards making a final option selection. Options included both three and four-story design solutions. Sustainable design strategies investigated energy efficiencies aimed at Net Zero Energy (ZNE) Ready and sustainable certification programs.
While the site for this project is bordered by public streets on two sides of the property, the existing, steep slope of the site limited options for locations of vehicular access points and for location of the building on site. The long and narrow proportions of the site also limits the orientation of the proposed building footprint to maintain sufficiently sized drive aisles for both bus traffic and pick-up and drop-off traffic. The proposed 4-story design stacks classroom and specialty activity spaces on the upper stories while keeping the gymnasium, cafeteria, and other larger activity spaces on the ground floor to limit the size of the building footprint. Samaha engaged an acoustical engineering consultant to provide additional sound isolation treatments for spaces requiring isolation between floor levels, such as the library, which is stacked over the administrative suite, and general learning classrooms, which are stacked over the music classrooms. The resulting 4-story design reduces the building footprint permitting flexibility in the site circulation and greenspace retention.
With a design capacity of 913 students, the new school will serve students from pre-kindergarten through 6th grade and the surrounding community for decades to come.
