VMDO Architects

The renovation of Fauquier High School included the addition of a four-story academic wing that provides a range of flexible 21st-century learning spaces connected by a monumental central stair. The design of this four-story addition draws inspiration from a set of active design guidelines (first implemented by New York City in 2010) that encourages movement and active utilization of the built environment to bolster the health of students, staff, and faculty.

Custom environmental graphics support the stair’s active design mission. Each floor in the school features a different branded color identity with super-scaled floor numbers for wayfinding purposes, along with engaging statistics related to a specific movement-based floor theme – including Healthy, Active, and Strong. Graphics prompt stair use (and behavior change) by featuring interactive statistics about the health benefits of using stairs, such as:

• Healthy: “You will climb roughly 99,360 stairs in your four years at Fauquier High School. Climbing these stairs twice a day every day for the four years of high school equals the same elevation gain as climbing Mount Everest twice!”
• Active: “You will burn roughly 58.4 million calories in your lifetime. Climbing these stairs twice daily during your four years at Fauquier High School will burn roughly 17,280 calories.”
• Strong: “In your lifetime, you will drink roughly 14,600 gallons of water. The water-efficient fixtures in your school save the same amount of water you will drink in a lifetime in just a little over a month!”

Adjacent to a 4-story glass curtainwall, the stairway is bathed in natural daylight and capitalizes on views of the surrounding countryside. Likewise, from the outside, the stairway is a visible feature, showcasing learning and activity occurring in the school. As students ascend the stairs, they are able to see elevation markers on the stair treads at every landing. This mode of measurement helps students actively monitor their activity level while associating it with engaging facts about their elevation in the school at any given moment.

An installation featuring the school’s LEED Gold plaque and associated LEED points is located in the entryway of the school – showcasing Fauquier County’s commitment to sustainability. Custom signage and graphics engage students in understanding the school’s sustainable design, describing, for instance, how the ground source heat pump system works and where recycled and local materials have been incorporated in the building.