MIR
The Heights Building
The Heights Building, formerly Wilson Secondary School, is a new multi-story, multi-program school that aims to utilize space as effectively as possible, in order to accommodate the educational needs of the growing Arlington County community.
Arlington, Virginia
Client: Phase 1: Leo A Daly & Bjarke Ingles Group Phase 2: VMDO DC Architects, PLLC
Building Size: 184,078 sf
Project Cost: $89 million
Certifications: LEED Gold
The Heights was designed to house up to 775 students. The project also involved the design of a special needs program for approximately 100 students. The building employs a unique architectural form to maximize density and open space on a tightly constrained site. Five levels of classrooms are rotated around a central pivot point, creating rooftop terraces on each level that serve as outdoor educational environments. Common spaces include the 400-seat auditorium, main gymnasium, library, reception, and cafeteria.
Interface Engineering provided MEP Engineering and Sustainable Design services for:
- Building envelope thermal performance improvements (walls and roof).
- Daylight responsive sensors and controls.
- Demand responsive ventilation with CO2 sensors and controls.
- Demand responsive interior lighting controls with occupancy sensors.
- EnergyStar® rated school equipment.
- Exhaust and relief air heat recovery.
- High performance windows.
- Light emitting diode (LED) lighting.
- Premium efficiency motors.
- Variable frequency drives on all three-phase motors.
- Water cooled variable refrigerant flow (VRF) cooling.
- Dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS) with energy recovery.
Phase 2 of the project will provide improvements to building access, accessible parking, bicycle infrastructure, and athletic facilities with a synthetic turf field.