great-looking display windows on MLK!

well, the Savoy School is pretty much totally done now and it looks really fantastic. The new building along MLK is sharp and has some great display windows for art and history exhibits.


looking directly North across MLK

One of the windows is already programmed with images of the Savoy School renovation and expansion project, and the other will get something from the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum:



Looking forward to seeing what they put in...

playground sprouting at Savoy

For the past couple days teams have been hard at work constructing the new playground outside the school (the school is looking amazing, by the way). Kids from the summer jobs program, Americorps volunteers, park rangers, Screaming Eagles, and others are putting together what looks to be a really great playground made out of composite decking. Slides, monkey bars, towers, and sliding poles a'plenty!


nailing in the finishing touches on a colorful window


some of the smiling Americorps volunteers


it takes three to hoist up the green monkey bars



I can't wait for this project to be finished. For a long time a banner hung on the school calling it "the pride of Anacostia" - which it most definitely was not. But that's exactly what it's turning into! This is the kind of school (building, at least) people will be extatic to send their kids to.

savoy school is a'coming soon

The modernization of the Kiger A. Savoy Elementary is getting close to completion -- and both the MLK and Shannon Place buildings are looking great!


looking down MLK to Thurgood Marshall School and the metro

On MLK is the new new 26,000-square-foot community center to be opened in partnership with the DC Department of Parks and Recreation, which will include a full-sized gymnasium with bleachers, stage, separate storage rooms and offices, locker rooms, and a fitness room. (and they built it right up against the street - woohoo!)


view towards savoy and the new gym

I've been really impressed with this project and look forward to seeing the final product. I believe the school is supposed to open for this upcoming school year - and it looks like the community center couldn't be that far behind.

Click Here for more information and renderings of the project.

savoy school update

the Savoy Elementary School's total renovation is coming along quite nicely. the windows are in, the concrete for the addition is poured, and the first floor is now being built at the community / rec center.





the school is scheduled for completion in time for the 2009-2010 school year.

Savoy School Gutted

hopefully soon will live up to its slogan

Savoy Elementary is well under construction, which is a pretty exciting thing after seeing its prison-like presence in such a prominent location for so long.



From a 2006 update (PDF):

The modernization will ensure the facility is right sized to meet its enrollment, but with room to grow, should this be needed to support the neighborhood development and change in Anacostia.

Regarding goals of the District, the Savoy Modernization and Co-location project implements priorities to co-locate and share public land and space among other public entities. The project provides physical education, athletic, health and fitness space to the students of the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School, as well as those at Savoy Elementary School. In addition, the Department of Recreation, which has operated after school and youth programming at Savoy for many years, will operate expanded programs from the new shared use gymnasium facility.

Finally, as a part of Main Street growth and development, there will be approximately 6,400 square feet of space available on the second floor of the health and fitness areas on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd that will be available for commercial use. This will provide DCPS with income that can support the maintenance and operations of the facility. In addition, there will be store fronts on MLK, Jr Blvd. These are designed to support museum, art or retail displays in support of culture, education and business on the main street.

Before:


During:




After:


entrance at MLK:


photos and graphic by DG-rad

savoy school, etc

While I still have yet to receive any clear word on what exactly the extent of the renovations/rebuilding at Savoy Elementary is, the construction fences have gone up:



Looks like a good team. Bowie Gridley Architects has done a lot of private school design projects in the past, as well as the Thurgood Marshall Academy right next door. Sigal Construction has overseen its fair share of educational projects.

Update 6/25/08, from the DCRA's list of approved building permits:
"ADDITION AND RENOVATION TO EXISTING 1960 PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING. ADDITIONS INCLUDE A NEW GYM, UNDERGROUND GARAGE, AND..." (description is cut off)



Also adjecent to the new Savoy School is the Carver Theater project (building with big chimney, above). Right now I am extremely hesitent about this project, both because it has taken way longer than originally planned, and because now these windows look way cheap:





Maybe I will be proven wrong, but right now it isn't looking like it will be the awesome contributing building when finished that I have been hoping for. ...crossing my fingers, though.

photos by DG-rad