Bailey’s Upper Elementary, Wilson Library get design awards

Bailey’s Upper Elementary School [Josh Meister Photo]

Two buildings in the Mason District are among the nine projects honored with a 2016 Fairfax County Exceptional Design Award.

Bailey’s Upper Elementary School on Leesburg Pike in Seven Corners received an Honor Award, and the renovated Woodrow Wilson Library in Bailey’s Crossroads received a Merit Award. The Board of Supervisors presented the awards Oct. 18.

The Woodrow Wilson Library [Paul Burk]

The awards program was established in 1985 to recognize achievement in the total design of a building and its site. The awards also aim to raise awareness of outstanding planning and design projects among design professionals and the general public.

Bailey’s Upper Elementary School, completed in 2014, was created in a repurposed multi-story office building by the Cooper Carry architectural firm.

According to the jury, “The project is a model of what can be done with the current saturated office space market in the Washington area.”

The jury called it “a state-of-the-art learning environment with generous windows allowing natural light to animate the interiors and a rich color scheme that complements the variety of learning seating areas,” A gym for the school is under construction.

The other Honor Awards went to Potomac Intermediate School in McLean and Washington Gas’ Springfield Operations Center.

Woodrow Wilson Library, originally built in 1964, was renovated by Bowie Gridley Architects. Completed in 2014, the project transformed the library into “a bright and cheerful learning facility by incorporating extensive horizontal glass windows flooding the interior spaces with natural light,” the jury states. It lauds the use of brilliant colors, an open lobby, and glass-walled meeting rooms.

Merit awards also went to LMI headquarters in McLean and OGSystems in Chantilly. The Merrifield Center, Clermont Elementary School in Alexandria, and the McLean Police Station and Government Center received Honorable Mention.

The design awards program is sponsored by the Board of Supervisors and is administered by the Department of Planning and Zoning in cooperation with the Architectural Review Board and the Northern Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Any project completed in Fairfax County in the past five years is eligible for nomination. The program awards projects that exemplify a superior work of architecture, incorporate outstanding site design and landscaping, take into account the context of the project design in relationship to its surroundings, and apply energy and water conservation and other green building practices.