Vanderweil / Perkins+Will / Shalom Baranes Collaborate
George Washington Law Clinic Townhomes / © Attic Fire Photography
Washington, DC – R. G. Vanderweil Engineers LLP, a Boston based, full-service engineering firm, announced its collaboration with local architecture firms, Perkins+Will along with Shalom Baranes Associates, PC for the design of the Law Clinic Townhouses, Law Learning Center and the G Street Parking Garage projects on Square 103 of the George Washington University’s Foggy Bottom Campus.
The 27,000sf set of three historic townhouses were renovated and combined into a single building, which has been used to create office and conference space, seminar rooms, an individual space for the student journal, classroom facilities for GW’s Law School, along with a moot court.
The adjacent 200,000sf Law Learning Center and G Street Garage includes an entry pavilion and a five level bgoergelow-grade parking structure which currently accommodates approximately 390 spaces of parking for cars and assorted vehicles for the university.
The occupied lower level is utilized by the GWU Law School and incorporates seminar rooms, moot court, lounge, and law school support spaces.
The historic townhouses were restored to maintain their individuality at their front facades. Internally they were connected to provide the needed program space for the Law Clinic. New circulation was added at the rear yards to provide elevator service and required emergency egress as well as to allow as much historic fabric of the original townhouses to remain.
The Law learning center structure was thoughtfully designed to accommodate a potential future phase 2 project which may consist of a new 90-foot, 340,000sf building, that could be built above the existing program space and parking structure.
Due to the energy efficient and sustainable features, the Law Clinic Townhouse recently secured LEED® Gold certification while the law learning center is anticipated to achieve LEED® Silver certification.
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Included in the scope of the Law Clinic Townhouse renovations, was the replacement of all internal MEP (Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing) systems located within the existing townhouse historic structures. The new systems are comprised of new high efficiency lighting, rainwater harvesting, extensive sky lights to allow more natural daylighting, and an innovative variable refrigerant flow heat pump system with zoned temperature controls along with a dedicated outside air supply system.
The new HVAC system within the Law Learning Center consists of a high efficient air-cooled chiller, condensing boilers and air handling units that serve the seminar, moot court and support spaces. Rain water from the entry pavilion is currently routed to an interior cistern for rain water harvesting. The rain water is then utilized for irrigation.
