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“Greenest” School in the World. Received the highest distinction, by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) certified LEED Platinum. the 280,000 sf school achieved 91 points, out of 110 points possible for LEED—making it the highest-scoring k-12 new school in the world. Due to this achievement:
In the same year that the school has been certified Platinum, it has also posted the highest standardized test score gains in the entire city—this after only one year in the building. I believe that innovative design has created a synergy with the school’s educational transformation initiatives that is resulting in more successful educational outcomes for the students.~ Sean O’Donnell AIA, LEED AP, Principal-in-Charge Perkins Eastman’s
The new Dunbar High School campus raises the bar for sustainable, high-performance school design in the District of Columbia and for students’ environmental stewardship. Its more prominent sustainable design attributes include:
- 482 kW photovoltaic array, provided through Washington, DC’s first power purchase agreement, that generates enough energy on a sunny summer day to power all classroom lights for eight hours
- Washington, DC’s largest ground-source heat pump (aka “geothermal”) system below Dunbar’s athletic field, with wells extending 460 feet deep
- O Street: Reopening as a sustainable model that features 6,152 sf of rain gardens able to handle a 1.2-inch storm event
- Pervasive natural light resulting from proper orientation and shading of the building
- Two 20,000 gallon cisterns and low-flow fixtures help save over 1,400,000 gallons of potable water/year
- Enhanced acoustics that help create a high-performance learning environment
Our role as an integrated member worked in close collaboration with DGS, DCPS, the school, the alumni, the community, and the design and construction team to identify and implement these measures during the design and construction. Post construction and commissioning 10 months into operation of the of the building resulted in changes to the building schedule around its use, reducing energy consumption by 15% in this world setting school.