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cantilevered over the one below it, such that the bottom and top athletic fields, and was sensitive to the varied architectural
bars end up perpendicular to each other. The result evokes a context surrounding the site, ranging from dense commercial
stack of cocktail napkins twisted into a jaunty helix by a finicky development along Wilson Boulevard, where the school’s main
host. To casual passersby, this dramatic gesture might seem like entrance is, to lower-rise residential areas at the rear.
an artistic flight of fancy, but in fact the curious composition These concerns gave rise to the pivoting parti of the
addresses a number of goals related to the schools’ curricula Heights. The rotation of the upper floors not only affords a
and occupants’ well-being. gradual transition in scale from the front to the rear of the site,
“The Heights is really the first urban public school in but also creates a series of roof terraces that provide accessible
Arlington County,” said Timothy J. Duffy, AIA, CSI, LEED outdoor space where students can study or gather in nice
AP, vice president and director of technical services at LEO weather. The levels are connected by cascading staircases
A DALY. Adapting a suburban school model to a compact that facilitate movement throughout the complex while gently
site posed a particular challenge for an institution like H-B promoting physical exercise. Planted with vegetation that is
Woodlawn, which long had an open-campus policy allowing native to the region, the roof terraces help to manage
students to take advantage of the outdoors. The design team stormwater runoff.
was also conscious of the need to preserve ground space for

View from Wilson Boulevard, with
the main entrance at right.

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