Irene Snow Elementary School in Napa is a Top Real Estate Projects Awards winner

After the 2014 Napa earthquake, fault traces were discovered at the Irene Snow Elementary School site at 1130 Foster Road.

The Napa Valley Unified School District decided to rebuild the 420-student school on the same site outside of the no-build zone.

The design team led by TCLD Architecture developed a phasing plan providing an interim housing village comprised of 24 portable buildings for the 2018-19 school year while the new 40,000 square foot campus was being built by Arntz Builders. Construction costs totaled $30.7 million.

The new classrooms were designed as 30x32 foot modules, a proportion that allows for more flexible teaching styles and one that can be competitively bid by most modular structure builders.

The design features north-facing clerestory windows and sloped ceilings optimized to provide even light distribution throughout the classrooms, augmented by linear LED pendant fixtures with daylight sensors that supplement natural daylight while using very little energy. Upgraded insulation was part of the building envelope, and high-efficiency mechanical systems were installed.

The new multi-use building features an exposed steel structure and a glazed entry corner, lending a contemporary and sophisticated sensibility, while corrugated metal paneling provides a signature material for the campus evoking its rural agricultural surroundings.

The finishing kitchen in the multi-use building serves as a prototype for an enhanced district-wide nutritional wellness program, enabling students to enjoy freshly cooked meals on-site at each elementary school.

Several subcontractors were also engaged in this project, including ZFA Structural Engineers, RSA+ Civil Engineers, GSM Landscape Architects, TEP Engineering (mechanical and plumbing), O’Mahony & Myer (electrical), and Ballinger Restaurant Equipment.

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Correction, Dec. 22, 2020: ZFA Structural Engineers’ name was misspelled. GSM Landscape Architects designed the grounds for the project, not Quadriga Landscape Architecture and Planning.