The Renaissance Academy will be Virginia Beach City Public Schools' new alternative education center serving students in grades 6-12 and will be "home" for the school division's alternative education programs to include: the Virginia Beach Central Academy, the Center for Effective Learning, the Princess Anne Center for Pregnant Teens, Open Campus Center, and SECEP.
Area: 285,000 square feet
Student capacity: 1,600 (maximum)
Grades: 6-12
Height: Two-story
Construction: Load bearing CMU walls with steel joist floor and roof framing
Exterior envelope: Brick veneer, metal wall panel and aluminum curtain wall glazing, classroom
day lighting, and modified bitumen roofing
Interior walls: Metal stud with abuse resistant gypsum board
Ceilings: Acoustical tile
Flooring: Epoxy terrazzo, carpet, ceramic tile
HVAC: Water source heat pumps with geothermal wells (no cooling tower or boiler)
Plumbing: Roof drains to cistern; cistern water used for toilet flushing; no-flush urinals
Project to achieve USGBC LEED Silver rating.
Construction Budget: $65.2 Million
The facility will house a museum exhibit for the historic Union Kempsville School. After integration of schools in 1969, Union Kempsville High School closed, and its students and staff transferred to other high schools in Virginia Beach.
The museum will replicate the auditorium in the former school. Curators from Virginia Beach, Colonial Williamsburg, and museums in the state will be involved with Union Kempsville graduates in the development of a community outreach program with protocols established for the collection of yearbooks, class rings, photographs, and other artifacts that organizers hope to display in the museum.
Unique environmental features that, by design and program area, will make the Renaissance Academy the first building of this type in the entire United States.
This project is slated to achieve a USGBC LEED (United States Green Building Council, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver rating. Only 60 schools in the whole country that have a LEED building rating. LEED recognizes achievements and promotes expertise in green building through a comprehensive system offering project certification, professional accreditation, training and practical resources. LEED provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. Based on well-founded scientific standards, LEED emphasizes state of the art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
Based on research, this is the first school building of this type in the country. This building is unique due to its design and academic programs that will be contained within the building.
This school will be the first building in our school division that will use rainwater reclamation for toilet flushing. A rainwater collection system will collect water from the roof and store it in a 50,000 gallon cistern so water can be used for flushing toilets. This will allow the school to save approximately 3.8 million gallons of treated water per year.
A geothermal heat pump will be installed for heating and cooling. This is an efficient means of heating and cooling a building by using ground water.
A portion of the roof -- 16,000 square feet -- will be “green”. Grass planted on a portion of the roof will decrease heating and cooling costs and reducing the amount of runoff that is channeled into the city’s storm water system. It also has the potential to last more than 50 years without replacement.
Solar collectors will be installed on the roof to heat hot water in the school’s kitchen.
Photovoltaic cells will be used to put electricity back in the electricity grid. The grid is the network which we “pull” electricity from VirginiaDominion Power. This will allow us to actually “farm” electricity for the electrical company.
Typically mechanical rooms are tucked away in a dark corner of our schools. However, this mechanical room will serve as a teaching tool. Students will be able to visibly see how the building operates through a window. This building will serve as a teaching tool.
An inter-active kiosk will be installed in the school so students and staff can monitor how energy is being used.
Contacts
Virginia Beach City Public Schools
Mr. Anthony L. Arnold
Director of Facilities Planning and Construction
757.263.1090
Virginia Beach City Public Schools
Mr. Tim Cole
Project Manager
757.263.1090
