Page 38 - Fall 2019

Chapter Design Award in Architecture

Bancroft Elementary School
Washington, DC
Ayers Saint Gross / Jonathan
Kuhn Architect

Landscape Architects: Lee and Associates
Structural Engineers: SK&A Structural Engineers
MEP Engineers: JVP Engineers PC
Civil Engineers: Wiles Mensch Corporation—DC
Existing building at the
AV Consultants: Polysonics Corp. Bancroft Elementary School.
General Contractor: Coakley & Williams Construction
Photo © Lauren K Davis for Feinknopf Photography
When the original Bancroft Elementary School was constructed in
several stages between 1923 and 1932, its Mediterranean Revival
style was essentially a random choice—a picturesque departure
from the Georgian Revival that was more common for public
schools of the era. The school’s architects could not have known
that, decades later, it would house one of the city’s premier dual-
language programs, teaching all students in both English and
Spanish—nor that, for all of DC’s gentrification, the Mount
Pleasant neighborhood would retain substantial pockets of Latino
immigrant families for whom such a dual-language school is ideal.
But the original building, despite its stylistic charms, was
significantly too small and lacked larger-scale special-use spaces
such as a gymnasium and library. The firm of Ayers Saint Gross, in
Hallway bench.
collaboration with Jonathan Kuhn Architect, was commissioned
to expand and modernize the facility. The design team more than Photo © Lauren K Davis for Feinknopf Photography
doubled the size of the school, and, drawing on the Spanish/
Mediterranean theme,organized new and pre-existing spaces
around a main corridor that they call the Calle Mayor (“Main
Street”), and conceived the key shared spaces as “destinations
along the gently meandering street of an old Spanish town.”
The original building hugged the street at the front of the site,
with a large open rear area sloping gently down to the woods of
Piney Branch, a wing of Rock Creek Park. The new Calle Mayor
connects the original entrance to new wings added to the rear; it
ends in a covered but open-air classroom overlooking the woods.
A series of courtyards, which could be viewed as yet another
Spanish touch, is programmed for playgrounds, an “outdoor
learning” facility, and a soccer field ringed by a track.
The additions are completely modern in their architectural
articulation, but some of the color choices and bold forms create a
perceptible Hispanic inflection. The exteriors have red brick but
also metal panels in browns and burnt orange that suggest Latin
American precedents. The inside is white and bright, with
accents in slightly pastelled primary colors: yellow at the
gymnasium, blue at certain classrooms, green at the library, and
so forth. Flooring is white terrazzo, a bright, highly resilient,
low-maintenance choice. Bold murals liven stairways. Generous
windows provide daylighting and, in many cases, lovely calming
views of trees.

Staircase with large window. Photo © Lauren K Davis
for Feinknopf Photography
36 INSTITUTIONAL INVESTMENTS