Cardozo Education Campus, Washington, D.C.
Retrofit Team
Retrofit Team
ARCHITECT: Hartman-Cox Architects, Washington
WINDOW INSTALLER: Heavy Commercial Windows, York, Pa., (717) 792-3374
Materials
The renovation project involved the complete modernization of 355,400 square feet of existing historic infrastructure and a 42,000-square-foot gymnasium addition.
Adding to the renovation’s strikingly fresh appearance are 1,100 windows—a mix of Series S2200 double hung, Series S6800 fixed, and Series S6500 casement and fixed windows.
The building’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places and the need for Washington-based National Park Service approvals made the window portion particularly challenging.
The design team relied heavily on Graham Architectural Products, the window manufacturer, because it specializes in historic windows, AW-rated historic replication windows. Randy Boardman, window design consultant, designed a workable solution and the manufacturing team was able to overcome a tight timeline, which for design and construction was 18 months.
“It was a very historic job with a tight schedule …, so everybody worked together to pull it out,” says Keith Walter, president of Heavy Commercial Windows.
WINDOW MANUFACTURER: Graham Architectural Products
The Retrofit
The District of Columbia’s longest continuously operating public high school is a landmark in a city full of them. It sits on a two-square-block parcel high on a hill with breathtaking views of our nation’s capital and its monuments.
Built a century ago and designed by William B. Ittner, referred to by one author as “the most influential man in school architecture in the United States”, time had taken a toll on the building. The District of Columbia Public Schools had not been able to maintain the building, all of which makes its recent renovation one of the more remarkable comebacks in a city that has seen its share.
The school has undergone a dramatic renova- tion, reopening its doors as a LEED Silver school. The completed project was so extraordinary, the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Office/ Office of Planning gave it the Historic Preservation Review Board Chair’s Award, citing “its exceptional design work in restoration, rehabilitation and new construction affecting historic District property”.
PHOTO: GRAHAM ARCHITECTURAL PRODUCTS