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“Sitting steps” off the main lobby.

An initial challenge for the architects was the located in the Anacostia watershed zone, additional
project’s tight design schedule. A building of this size storm water management measures were required. All
and complexity might normally require 100 to 120 this had to be done while keeping costs under control.
days to design, the firm said, but the school’s need to Studio Twenty Seven’s key design moves for
have the building open before the start of the Fall 2020 meeting these challenges include a second floor that
semester required a more compressed timeline. Studio cantilevers over the building’s first-floor entry and
Twenty Seven responded with a rigorously disciplined drop-off area, and an elevated bridge that connects the
design approach called the critical path method that new middle school building to the 1931 structure.
reduced the project’s design time to 70 days. “The use of the cantilevered storefront [a type of
“One of the first things we did to ensure we met wall system] allows for a welcoming entry and helped
the [design] schedule was to set weekly meetings with us achieve multiple objectives,” the architects said.
Two Rivers and create a schedule for when certain “The covered outdoor seating area protects students
decisions needed to be made,” Mutchler said. “The who are waiting and gathering before school from
meetings included all the key decision makers who inclement weather. It [also] allows for more play space
could sign off on design and budget decisions. While behind the building, because the building can cover a
this phase of the project always calls for longer hours portion of the drop-off circle” rather than take up some
and a larger [design] team, organization became of the play space.
imperative. Each week the goals of next week’s The second floor’s cantilevered corner helped
presentation were set and the team worked towards meet the storm water management requirements
creating a package to illustrate the next phase of the by maximizing the size of the building’s green roof.
design for Two Rivers to review.” Additional storm water management measures
An additional challenge was the project’s site, included elevating the rooftop mechanical equipment
which “is bound by a tight property line and a 15-foot so as to further enlarge the roof’s planted area and
setback. The design had to fit within this space—along using permeable surfaces for outdoor walkways and
with vehicular circulation for the students—in a play areas.
creative way,” the firm said. And since the project is

48 ADVANCED PLACEMENT