Bancroft's Award-Winning Neighborhood-to-Nature Renovation

Bancroft Elementary School’s North stair view into Rock Creek Park brings the outdoors in.

Almost 100 years old, Bancroft Elementary School was declared a historic part of the Mount Pleasant Washington, DC neighborhood in 2005 by the DC Historic Preservation board. Originally built with only 8 classrooms in 1923, the school has seen more than 5 renovations in its lifetime.

The owner of its recent $65.8 renovation project, DC Department of General Services (DGS), selected Coakley & Williams Construction as the Design-Build contractor for the modernization. The architects, Ayers Saint Gross, Jonathan Kuhn Architects and Fielding Nair International blueprinted the additional wings with the intention of nurturing the neighborhood-to-nature relationship. Encompassed by Rock Creek Park, one of our nation's most lush national parks, Bancroft Elementary School’s expansion offers forest views in its urban oasis in the midst of Ward 1.

Bancroft’s exterior features the already present terra-cotta and new terra-cotta to enrich the existing character of the school.

It's no wonder that the project was awarded the 2019 Chapter Design winner for Excellence in Architecture by AIA|DC. The purposed shapes of the new buildings allow for an abundance of natural light to illuminate its corridors and utilize the sun's free energy. The stormwater management system was also devised to create zero runoff and erosion into Piney Branch Creek and Rock Creek Park. These sustainable features as well as the green roofs and gardens earned Bancroft Elementary School a LEED Gold for Schools certification for taking the children's health, educational mission, and complex programmatic spaces into account when designing and building the space.

In an Instagram post by one of Bancroft’s architects, Brian Gruetzmacher, he states that the bench overlooking the gym was designed to work for all ages from toddlers to adults.

"Our design is driven by a respect for past wisdom and the belief that we have an obligation to leave places better than we found them."
(Instagram @ayerssaintgross)

With twenty-first century updates and preservation of the school's treasured historic aspects, Bancroft Elementary School was also designated the ENR Mid Atlantic Award of Merit for Renovation and is currently nominated for ABC Metro's Excellence in Construction Award for Historic Renovation.

Louvered shading on the West side of the Bancroft Elementary School library helps block direct sunlight from the South side and allows natural light in the space.

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