DC Public School Dunbar High School Modernization, Washington, DC

“Size:
276,536 SF

Highlights:
LEED Platinum Certified
Rain Water Harvesting
Photo-Voltaic Solar System
Low VOC Materials
”

As part of the District’s program to modernize DC schools, the Historic Dunbar High School was demolished and a new 276,536 sf one was constructed to include state-of-art sustainable features and modern requirements.

Celebrating the school’s rich history while creating a sustainable, high performance place to learn, Dunbar Senior High School has set a new standard for contemporary school design and reasserts the central place of schools as the center of our communities.

Featuring the largest urban geothermal system in the District of Columbia, The project achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification in 2015, scoring 91 out of 110 points on the USGBC rating system. The school has its own aquatic center which offers an 8 lane, 25-yard pool. The completely new Dunbar Senior High School includes energy efficient building systems, clean and maintainable interior finishes, and bright and healthy classrooms and public spaces.

Sustainable features include living classrooms, Heat wheel cooling capacities with less than 2% cross contamination, Largest urban geothermal system in DC– 850 Tons with 362 vertical loop wells at 460 feet deep, Two 20,000 gallon cisterns and low-flow systems for collecting and reusing rainwater conserving more than 1.4 million gallons of potable water each year, 482 kilowatt (kW) photovoltaic solar system that generates enough energy to power all classroom lights for eight hours, low VOC materials and enhanced lighting controls.