Washington International School Tregaron Science Building (“Le Center Brown”)
Washington, D.C
BEST PROJECT
Owner: Washington International School
Main design company: Associate Architects Shalom Baranes
General contractor: MCN Build
Owner’s representative: JM Zell Partners
The four-story, 58,000-square-foot interdisciplinary science building transforms learning for middle and high school students while remaining deferential to one of Washington, DC’s most sensitive historic landscapes. Rather than placing a conventional academic building prominently on the land, a significant portion of the structure is embedded into a hillside, with two levels extending below grade. Skylights, light wells, landscaped areas and glazing bring natural light to all four levels. A reverse osmosis system serves the ground floor laboratories, providing a water infrastructure to support modern science education. This system improved the functionality of the laboratory space and created a more advanced academic environment for hands-on learning.
Working on a busy campus, the team maintained close coordination with the school community, managing a complex scope that included a 30-foot-deep excavation, a reinforced concrete superstructure, utility extensions, asphalt restoration at the campus entrance, approximately 22,000 square feet of paving, and an athletic field renovation.
With construction access limited to a single entry/exit point, the team implemented a highly coordinated logistics plan with deliveries, concrete pours, utility work, trucks, assembly, traffic control and paving scheduled at least a week in advance, which helped identify conflicts early.
Photo courtesy of Washington International School
When the need for additional access to the site arose to safely deliver large mechanical and kitchen equipment, the team designed and built a temporary road around the project that avoided overloading existing units and impacting a historic bridge.
The team moved the historic Casa Dacha, which was in the footprint of the new building. Instead of demolishing the structure, the team moved the structure using hydraulic lifts and wheels to a new location, where it was placed on new footings and foundations. The project also involved an unusual relocation of an existing outdoor generator serving another building. The unit was decommissioned, moved to the basement of Le Center Brown and upgraded with a modern exhaust, soundproofing and piping system.
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