Page 24 - Winter_2020

entry is now located on the opposite side of the hyphen.
Most students and their families approach the school
from this direction and now are able to avoid travel on
Minnesota Avenue in their daily commute to school.
Happily, and in support of its biophilic approach,
Kimball is adjacent to the nearly 400-acre Fort Dupont
Park, an oasis of green woodlands in the midst of
Southeast Washington. Lund and his team took every
opportunity to maximize the connection between the
park and the school. The cafeteria, the library, and gym
are all located on the south end of the school allowing
for wide vistas into the park. The natural environment
of the park is evoked in numerous ways in the interior
and exterior design and materials. One interior space
enveloped by views out to the woods has a three-
dimensional ceiling mimicking the green canopy of
trees. Each floor has wayfinding graphics and colors
drawn from nature’s fundamental elements: earth,
water, air, and fire.
Interior spaces are designed to be flexible and
adaptable to small-group learning. In the library, for
example, nearly all the furniture is on wheels so the
room can be easily reconfigured as required. Interactive
boards, a teaching station, and mobile laptop carts are
available. Separated from the library by a glass wall is a
maker space, where kids can have hands-on learning.
The red brick exterior is punctuated by details of
wood and high-performance concrete panels. Lund
noted that the light-colored cladding identifies major
gathering and common areas within the school such
as the gymnasium and library. The south façade facing
the park and the school playground incorporates a
large sheltering porch, where students can gather
during inclement weather. In addition to an exuberant
climbing structure, the playground includes a cycle
track where kids can learn to ride bikes and tricycles in
a safe space.
After decades of neglect in which the city’s
public school buildings were at best uninspiring and
at worst downright unsafe, Washington now has
a large and growing collection of schools meeting
high architectural standards, worthy of the nation’s
capital, and most important, providing a world-class
environment for the children who learn in them.

Library with views toward the adjacent
park and ceiling panels that evoke the
park’s tree canopy.

Photo © Anne Chan
22 SCHOOLS ON A MISSION