The 2024 AIA National Awards were announced last week at the Annual AIA24 Conference Awards Gala; VMDO was honored to receive five national awards that showcase excellence in architectural design and practice.
Thurston Hall Renovation
The George Washington University’s Thurston Residence Hall Renovation won three awards: The AIA National Architecture Award which is the ultimate acknowledgment of impactful and exemplary work in architecture and design that sets new standards of excellence to inspire innovation, The AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top 10 Award for the highest level of achievement in sustainable design, andThe AIA National Housing Award that emphasizes the importance of good housing as a cornerstone of life, human spirit, and a key national resource.
For over 70 years, Thurston Hall at The George Washington University (GWU) has provided students with formative experiences as they embark upon life away from home, often for the first time. This renovation of the hall, a beloved campus asset on the university’s Washington, D.C., campus, utilized its solid bones and addressed significant habitation issues. The project also reflects larger trends; in 2022, for the first time since AIA has been recording such data, renovation work outpaced new construction in overall national architectural billings. As such, this project is a leading example of industry shifts and demonstrates the benefits of revitalizing the nation’s existing building stock.
“This stands out as an adaptive reuse project supported by holistic design that carefully considers student well-being and creates numerous social opportunities. Blending the older character with new, modern materials is a beautiful way to explore placemaking in this project.” - Jury Comment
The design’s central courtyard brings the rhythms of the District into the heart of the building while providing opportunities for students to engage with each other and DC’s urban context. Plaza, terrace, garden, and rooftop settings nourish interpersonal connections and frame views to the District. As a threshold to the city and the GW Student Experience, Thurston Hall connects students to each other, to their studies, and to the world-class offerings of GW’s vibrant urban and academic context. Research demonstrates a correlation between high-density residential buildings and negative student outcomes. By carving away a portion of the building to enhance daylighting, transparency, and views, the renovation of Thurston Hall creates internal views and visual connections that contribute to a higher sense of community and security. As a LEED Platinum building, Thurston Hall provides a healthy and engaging home for students and offers a flagship setting for GW’s First Year Experience.
Alice West Fleet Elementary School
Arlington Public Schools’ Alice West Fleet Elementary School is a recipient of an AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Award for its achievement of zero energy design within a child-centric environment that seamlessly integrates design, high sustainability, and learning.
AIA “COTE” Top Ten Award – Given by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) to the ten best projects worldwide that exemplify the integration of design and performance, the Top Ten Awards program honors achievements across the triple bottom line of social, economic, and environmental value.
Fleet Elementary School is the second of three net-zero energy schools for Arlington Public Schools that offers innovative approaches to compact site design, energy efficiency, sustainability, and learning. The school embraces the community scale of the residential neighborhood with a welcoming double-height entry while also situating a four-story educational wing on its compact, triangular site. The highly efficient facility features a 500kW rooftop solar array with geothermal heating and cooling as well as numerous design innovations that reduce the school's carbon footprint while also maximizing energy savings for the school district.
A thorough, transparent, and engaging community process allayed concerns about the new school – located on the site of Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Community Center, and Park – taking away green space on an already constrained urban site. The design team built community buy-in and confidence by ensuring a cohesive park was retained and that no significant loss of green space and no net loss of recreational programming occurred.
Cardinal Elementary School
VMDO’s third elementary school for Arlington Public Schools, Cardinal Elementary School was awarded an Education Facility Design Award from the AIA Committee on Architecture for Education for its innovation in learning space design that enhances modern pedagogy.
“Any parent would be excited for their student to learn at this school. The community also received what it wanted, resulting in a win-win situation for everyone.” - Jury Comment
When it opened for the 2021 school year, Cardinal Elementary School established new standards for sustainability, energy performance, and learning environments for Virginia’s Arlington public schools. Despite its ambitious net zero energy goals, the project presented the design team with numerous additional challenges, including the renovation of an existing structure and historic library and a large-scale addition. However, the project seamlessly blends existing building stock to create a flexible and dynamic educational facility.
The original building was constructed in 1938 and operated as the Walter Reed School until its closure in 1984. It remained empty for more than 20 years until it was rehabilitated in 2008 to serve a “blended program” that offered a pre-k, library, and community center under one roof. When Arlington Public Schools shifted its pre-k programming to another site, the building no longer served local k-12 students despite the school district’s rapidly growing enrollment. The site was considered for a full-sized elementary school as well as a middle school, but neighborhood opposition eventually killed both proposals.
Following nine months of community engagement, the team produced a design that would add an 825-student school serving kindergarten through fifth-grade students on the site while still maintaining the building, library, and open space. The design solution demolished a circular one-story element that was added in 2008. Though the 25,382-square-foot element was relatively recently constructed, it wasn’t designed for vertical expansion beyond one additional floor. Its curving hallways also made supervision of students during class transitions a challenge. The team replaced the structure with a 92,177-square-foot addition that minimally expanded the overall building footprint. Additional construction completed in 2008 was renovated to preserve its embodied carbon.
Congratulations to our project teams! VMDO and all of our amazing architects work together to create community-centered environments that connect people and place through design based on a foundation of high-performing sustainability.
To learn more about our projects view our portfolio of transformative work here.
