Paul L. Dunbar High School

Founded in 1870 as the country’s first school for African Americans, Moody Nolan and EEK were challenged to create a facility that honors the past and present while looking toward the future. Inspiration for the new building leans heavily on the 1917 facility which was demolished in the 1970s. Like its historic predecessor, the new building reengages the community by establishing an inviting civic presence. In an appropriate twist of history, the building will be returning to the site of the original structure.

The concept of the new 21st Century Dunbar Senior High School is a modern environment with architecture that supports every aspect of the learning community. The school is organized into four academies of a lower scale with an open feeling that provide smaller scale modules where students and teachers can work in groups and create bonds that will underpin a successful education. All of the components of the educational program are assembled—classrooms, labs, educational technology, offices, gyms, lockers,—into a place where students, faculty and staff interact casually, exchange ideas and build positive relationships.