Old Donation School
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Square Footage
225,785 SF
Building Type
K-12 Education
Project Type
New Construction, Sustainability
Team
Architect-led
Services Provided
Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Design, Construction Administration, Commissioning
Overview
Old Donation School was a new approximately 200,000-square-foot educational facility developed for Virginia Beach City Public Schools to serve the division’s gifted education program. The school accommodated students in grades 2–8 and was organized into academic wings connected by shared learning and collaboration spaces. Integrated mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and life-safety systems supported energy efficiency, occupant comfort, and long-term operational performance.
Challenges
- Designing building systems to support a unique instructional model serving elementary and middle school grade levels within a single facility.
- Coordinating infrastructure across academic wings, collaborative learning areas, and specialized spaces including a gymnasium, auditorium, and media center.
- Delivering reliable, energy-efficient systems capable of supporting long-term school operations.
Goals
- Provide a modern learning environment tailored to advanced academic and gifted education programs.
- Enhance comfort, safety, and energy performance through high-efficiency building systems.
- Support Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ long-term facilities goals with durable, maintainable infrastructure.
Project Team
- Owner: Virginia Beach City Public Schools
- Architect: RRMM
- Structural: Speight Marshall Francis
- Civil:
- Contractor: McKenzie Construction
Results
- Successfully delivered a modern educational facility serving Virginia Beach’s citywide gifted education program.
- Supported collaborative learning through a campus layout centered around shared commons and learning spaces.
- Provided efficient, reliable infrastructure designed to support advanced academic programming.
