Lightridge High School

Lightridge is a 310,000 SF high school for 1,850 students, built from a prototype MTFA developed for Loudoun County Public Schools. The program covers a full comprehensive high school: science and CTE labs, a culinary arts classroom, special education, a greenhouse, a theater and drama venues, competition and auxiliary gymnasiums, and a full outdoor athletics complex with a lighted stadium, field house, and softball field. Interior courtyards and curtain wall bring daylight deep into the plan, set within brick, masonry, and metal panel façades.

A building this size can feel like an institution. We broke it down into distinct elements and spaces, each with its own identity, so students navigate by place rather than by room number, and so a 1,850-student school has neighborhoods within it. Finish selections were held to the budget throughout.

Lightridge is Energy Star certified. Its modeled energy use intensity was 52.6 kBtu/SF/yr; measured in operation, it uses 48.2 — about 8% better than the model predicted.