Manassas Park, Va. - The designers of Manassas Park Elementary School were recently selected by the American Institute of Archi-tects and its Committee on the Environment as one of the top 10 examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment.
The Charlottesville school firm VMDO Architects project was the only elementary building cited in the top 10 selections.
The committee selections ranged from an adaptive reuse of a historic turn-of-the-century industrial building in San Francisco to the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.
"It is especially rewarding that the Manassas Park Elementary project has been recognized as one of the 2010 COTE selections," said Bob Moje, principal of K-12 Public School Projects at VMDO.
"The innovative design for Manassas Park encourages students to become future environmental stewards. We are grateful for our long-standing collaboration with this community, a truly gratifying ex-perience."
Manassas Park Elementary School is designed around the premise that people, especially children, cannot be expected to preserve or protect something they do not understand. As such, the school itself is conceived as a teaching tool that shepherds children along a path of environmental stewardship, he noted.
Inside and out, sustainable design is integrated with the elementary curriculum. Design decisions were made with the goal of showcasing as many teachable moments as possible.
Interior extended learning spaces offer close views of the neighboring mixed oak forest, while elementary classrooms face shady moss and fern-covered learning courtyards featuring "fallen" trees and other particulars of an Eastern deciduous forest floor.
"Our new elementary school is receiving a wonderful recognition," said Thomas DeBolt, superintendant of Manassas Park Schools.
Since the school's opening in April 2009, the design has garnered a number of other awards, includ-ing K-12 Project of the Year, Mid-Atlantic Construction magazine; Platinum Design Award and Peo-ple's Choice Award, 2009 Virginia School Board; Association Exhibition of School Architecture; 1st place in the 2007 Go Green Competition, USGBC James River Chapter.
Manassas Park Elementary School was also featured in a film documentary by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and in an article by the National Education Association.
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