Campus Student Center

St. Andrew's Episcopal School, Potomac, Maryland

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Background

The CAA team has been providing on-call engineering services to St. Andrew’s Episcopal School (SAES) since 2008. Founded in 1978, SAES is a co-educational independent day school, enrolling approximately 585 students in preschool-grade 12.

On September 14, 2016, SAES dedicated its new 43,000-square-foot LEED Gold Student Center. The center comprises two gymnasiums, a fitness center, a dance studio, a student commons area, a café, indoor and outdoor meeting and gathering spaces, a display space for student artwork, dedicated locker rooms for coaches and fitness staff, a sports rehab center, and a new home for the nationally-renowned Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning

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Environmental Site Design

CAA’s role on this project was to add stormwater management to the site; reconfigure traffic and parking; add sidewalks; and provide ADA accessibility. Site design services provided by CAA staff included the design of eight micro-bioretention areas for stormwater management; relocating an existing drop-off loop to allow for the construction of a pedestrian-friendly plaza; the design of a ring road which allowed parallel parking on one side and alleviated traffic and parking issues; the addition of a sidewalk to provide connectivity from the main campus parking area and Student Center; and the design of retaining walls to tie into existing grades and provide ADA accessibility around the redeveloped area

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Community Benefits

The Student Center has transformed the St. Andrew’s Episcopal School campus into a more integrated student experience. It provides improved recreational facilities and welcoming common areas where students can mingle during free periods and where students, staff and the community can gather for public events. The new Student Center helps the school achieve its mission to inspire children in an exclusive community dedicated to exceptional learning.

In my 15 years, nothing has required more effort or brought me more joy then the Student Center Project.”
                     Robert Kosasky, Head of School

Wheaton Woods Elementary School

Rockville, Maryland

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Need for Additional Space

CAA was on a multi-disciplined team for the modernization of Wheaton Woods Elementary School, a one-story 66,763-SF elementary school built in 1951. The former facility had a capacity of 311 students, significantly lower than the space needed for the 412 students enrolled in kindergarten through the 5th grade.

The modernized school comprises 69,521 square feet. To reduce the footprint and conserve open space, the building is two stories with a walk out basement at the lower level to the fields and play areas following the dropping topography. The building is designed for maximum capacity of 740 students in kindergarten through the 5th grade. The school was selected as a pilot site for a daycare center.  

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LEED Silver Design

Site design services including multiple bioretention facilities onsite to manage storm water. Also included were improvements to vehicular ingress and egress, service deliveries, bus turn-around and passenger drop-offs, pedestrian traffic flow, site master planning for future expansions and temporary classroom locations, site grading and drainage, playgrounds and athletic fields, landscaping, site lighting and land use.

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Sustainable site practices included stormwater management quantity and quality control measures. A green roof was utilized on a portion of the building to promote stormwater quality and efficient use of the space. Stormwater quality was provided according to ESD criteria on a site which had no stormwater treatment in the existing condition.

Bayard Rustin Elementary School

Rockville, Maryland

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Objectives

Bayard Rustin Elementary School replaces the Montgomery County for the Child Resource Center facility on 11 acres on West Edmonston Drive in Rockville. The elementary school accommodates enrollment growth at the elementary school level in the Richard Montgomery Cluster.

Safety, sustainability and accessibility, keeping cars and buses separate, maintaining and enhancing landscape buffers between the school and adjacent property owners, consolidating fields and playgrounds for ease of supervision, orienting classrooms north/south to control daylight, minimizing the building footprint and minimizing roads and parking on site were all objectives met by the design team for the new school.

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Amenities

The site is located near an unnamed tributary leading to Cabin John Creek and a floodplain area. The project involved the demolition of the child care center and design of the new one-story wing and a three-story academic wing. The site includes a full-size soccer field, 100 parking spaces, play areas, sidewalks, a bus loop to accommodate 12 buses and new stormwater management facilities. The core capacity of the school is for 740 students.

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LEED Goals & Permitting

To comply with LEED Silver certification goals and Environmental Site Design requirements, CAA designed seven micro-bioretention areas and two underground infiltration trenches. A green roof is also provided on the school.

In addition to design, CAA was responsible for an MDE Notice of Intent, MDDNR Roadside Tree Permit, and City of Rockville right-of-way, sediment control, stormwater management, fire access plan and public works permits. 

Diamond Elementary School

Gaithersburg, Maryland

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Background

CAA was on a multi-disciplined team for a 17,000-square-foot addition to Diamond Elementary School in the City of Gaithersburg. The improvements included a school building addition, a bus loop, a parent drop-off area and parking reconfigurations. Sidewalks in the right-of-way were extended. 

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Challenges

Adding a new building acilitated the need to improve traffic flow between the parents and the buses, alleviate safety issues for students, and provide much needed additional parking. The CAA team’s design involved the reconfiguration of the existing drop-off areas and parking lots and providing stormwater management. Portable classrooms onsite were relocated from the northeast corner of the school to the southwest end of the school. CAA recently provided as-builts for the stormwater management facilities for the duration of the construction.

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Permitting

CAA obtained the following permits:

•  Gaithersburg Site Development Permit
•  MDDNR Roadside Tree Permit
•  Stormwater Management
•  MCFRS Fire Access Plan
•  MDE Notice of Intent 

Glenallan Elementary School

Silver Spring, Maryland

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Background

The replacement of Glenallan Elementary School is one of Montgomery County Public School’s first LEED Gold projects, having obtained certification in 2014. By using local and recycled materials and constructing a new bioretention facility onsite for stormwater management, the project surpassed its goal of LEED Silver certification.

CAA staff were on a multi-disciplined team for the design of the replacement project which entailed the demolition of the existing building and the construction of a new school building including significant site improvements for bus access, pedestrian access, parking and play areas. On-site traffic circulation was improved to provide safe access to the school by pedestrians and to maximize on-site stacking to minimize the overflow onto nearby streets. Sidewalks were designed to connect the residential communities to the school and improve safe access for students walking to school. Athletic fields and play areas were relocated. 

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LEED Gold

The CAA team’s site design involved Environmental Site Design for stormwater management including three bioretention areas, the design of driveway access points, a bus loop and play areas, providing ADA compliance, and connecting WSSC water mains and sanitary sewers adjacent to the site. A green roof and a water quality swale were also added. A WSSC site utility plan was prepared and processed, and permits were obtained through Montgomery County DPS for erosion and sediment control and right-of-way. To gain LEED credits, some of the existing trees were harvested and made into furniture to be used in the new school. Recycled concrete was used for base material for the parked areas. 

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In addition to design, CAA provided construction services including submittal and shop drawing review, responses to RFIs, preparation and processing of WSSC as-builts, construction inspection for the stormwater management facilities, and preparation of stormwater management as-builts. The design was completed within budget and permits were obtained prior to the project bid and more than four months prior to the start of construction.

This [project] is a real game changer for our community.  Peter Moran, Principal and 2016 winner of the Mark Mann Excellence and Harmony Award 

Lycée Rochambeau
The French International School

Bethesda, Maryland

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Background

Clark | Azar & Associates is designing a new nursery and primary school for the French International School, which will be developed from existing office buildings on eleven acres in an urban area along Rockville Pike in Bethesda.


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Historic Properties

To maintain the historic character of the site, most of the buildings including the primary office building, the parking garage and an old mansion house will remain. The site also boasts many large significant trees, including four county champion trees.

This project entails significant zoning and permitting requirements including:

• M-NCPPC Special Exception Amendment
• M-NCPPC Preliminary Plan Amendment
• M-NCPPC Forest Conservation
• M-NCPPC Record Plat
• MCDPS Sediment Control and SWM
• SHA Right-of-Way
• WSSC Site Utility 

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Challenges

Because of these pre-existing conditions, this project has been unique and challenging when designing the programmatic requirements for the school and the regulatory requirements for stormwater management and forestry. We have been able to provide the school with a synthetic turf field, multiple play areas and a separate parent and bus drop-off area, while maintaining a large open lawn area for unprogrammed activities. Construction is anticipated to begin in Spring 2019 with school opening in August 2020.

Cold Spring Elementary School

Potomac, Maryland

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Background

Montgomery County Public Schools has been at the forefront of helping Montgomery County retrofit its public facilities with Environmental Site Design (ESD) techniques to achieve the County’s goal to treat 20% of existing impervious areas. At Cold Spring Elementary School, new stormwater management facilities were added on site as part of a gymnasium addition project. This project was one of the most challenging and rewarding for CAA staff.


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Services

The project site was constrained by a 100-year floodplain to the north, limited parking areas that could not be affected, and substandard playing field sizes that could not be reduced. Underground stormwater management facilities were not feasible, so the CAA team designed a bioretention facility within an existing slope while maintaining a portion of the hill for community sledding during the winter. Grass weirs were provided at each tier where the stormwater collects and percolates and is treated for pollutants by bioretention media. The overflow runoff is collected at the bottom tier and ties into an existing drainage system. NPDES, floodplain district, and erosion and sediment control permits were obtained.

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Challenges

This project was met with challenges during design and construction. The site constraints limited the available area for stormwater treatment to an existing 3:1 slope. A series of retaining walls needed to be constructed to create “steps” in the hillside Designing the system to be stable on the hillside required the use of HDPE liners at each biofilter to prevent saturation issues around the wall footings. The CAA team completed the design of the project within the original schedule and delivered site permits and approvals more than one month prior to project bidding and more than three months prior to the start of construction.

The collaborative efforts of the CAA team, MCDEP and MCPS allowed the project to move forward without delay and with a unique solution that met the needs of all stakeholders. 

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work in progress

01.

prince george's county public schools 

Public-Private Partnership, Prince George's County, Md.

02.

crown high school

Design services for a new high school, Gaithersburg, Md. (left rendering credit: Stantec)

03.

freedom elementary school & sykesville middle school

Feasibility studies; Carroll County, Md.

04.

damascus high school

Phase 1 renovations; Damascus, Md.