For the last 15 years, HCM has been working with The Foxcroft School, a 150-student, all girls boarding school for grades 9-12 in Middleburg, Virginia, to upgrade and enhance their campus and facilities. Along the way, a number of these projects have been used as hands-on learning opportunities for the students. Now in its third iteration, these courses are a year-long, for-credit offering, led by the HCM and construction teams, using the ongoing campus improvements as their laboratory.
Beginning with the construction of the new Stuart Hall dormitory, HCM led the first iteration: Project GREENBuild. This course highlighted Foxcroft’s first LEED-certified building during the 2012-2013 school year. Each class aligned with the construction activities happening on campus. Each class period had an introduction to the topic, a hands-on exercise to demonstrate key elements of the topic, and a construction site tour.
In 2015 HCM and the team launched the second iteration, Project REBuild, which tracked the renovations and repurposing of Foxcroft’s oldest dormitory into a new Welcome Center. Along with the subsequent renovations to Music Building, this course focused on issues encountered during renovations.
Now, in partnership with Coakley Williams Construction, HCM is helping to lead the third course titled “Project STEAMBuild.” Project STEAMBuild is a multiyear course that tracks the design and construction of the new Mars STEAM Wing, part of the larger multi-phase renovations and expansion of all of Foxcroft’s academic, arts and STEM facilities.
HCM is grateful for Foxcroft’s commitment to hands on learning, and for inspiring some of their all-girl student body to pursue their own careers in the design and construction professions.
