Benjamin Orr Elementary School, built in 1974, is an open space school that is located in the Fairlawn neighborhood of Washington, DC. The classroom wing is shaped like a triangle and the majority of its windows face only into the court yard. Open space is a challenging educational environment for today’s teachers and students and DCPS is in the process of enclosing or replacing all of these schools.
The building has a capacity for less than 400 students with a current enrollment of approximately 426 students. Current design guidelines would require that rooms be enclosed and spaces expanded to provide for a 21st century learning environment.
This project is a replacement of the existing school for a capacity for 468 students.The existing school is 75,500 square feet. The educational specification requires a school of approximately 68,000 SF constructed as a new building.
Project Details
- Orr Elementary School Modernization Project
- Location: 2200 Minnesota Ave SE
- Ward: 8
- Construction Budget: $46.9M
- Construction Start Date: Spring 2017
- Completion Date: School Building:Fall 2018; Playground & Landscaping: Winter 2019
- DGS Project Manager: Braithwaite, Eupert A.
- Architect: cox graae + spack architects
- General Contractor: Skanska
- Status: Design Development Phase
- DCPS SIT Coordinator: Toussaint Webster
- Education Specification: September 2015 Ed Spec for Orr Elementary School
The Department of General Services (DGS) serves as the implementing construction agency for our partners at DC Public Schools (DCPS). DCPS is the lead agency on communicating with teachers, parents, students and community on modernization projects. Please see below the link with updated information to DCPS’ modernization project at Orr Elementary School: