The design challenge of this project was to create an engaging environment for learning; one that through its architecture, encourages discovery, sensory and intellectual development and stewardship of the environment.

This school seeks to embody the Montessori ideal of "structure and freedom". Through the design process, an "architecture of opposites" emerged — edges and endings, light and dark, solid and transparent, quiet and noise, city and nature, bridge and barrier. It is this struggle between opposing forces that creates a dynamic environment.

A site at the intersection of P and 26th Streets in Georgetown on the western edge of Rock Creek Park was chosen for the project because of its nature as a haven within an urban context.