Project profile: Discovery Elementary School

Discovery Elementary School is the largest zero-energy school in the US. The challenge was to integrate a 98,000 SF building into a residential neighborhood while keeping the entire PV array on the roof. By terracing the mass into a south facing hill, the project met local goals for scale, community goals for preservation of flat, open space for recreation, and global goals for ideal orientation for solar generation.

Discovery Elementary School; Arlington, Virginia; VMDO Architects

Building program type(s): Education–K-12 School

(2017 AIA COTE Top Ten award recipient)