VCU Raleigh Hall Renovation

DJG designed a complete gut and rehabilitation of a former historical 1907 apartment house into the new Headquarters for the Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. The design team’s approach was to balance the exterior historical building—set as the gateway to the Franklin Street corridor—with the interior flow, finishes, and modern aesthetics of a 21st Century Headquarters. This transition from the historic neighborhood occurs as you enter through the restored main entrance doors to a grand 2-story entrance hall with modern glass and steel rails and decorative contemporary chandelier.

The four-story, 26,048 sf building needed new architectural and structural upgrades to repair the cracking foundation and water infiltration, repointing exterior masonry, providing a new ADA compliant entrance elevator system, new exit stairs, new floor plan layouts, exterior door and window repairs, new storm windows, new ADA compliant restrooms, repair of plaster walls and ceilings, new painting and flooring throughout, and new suspended ceilings.

The project is designed to comply with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources guidelines for the historic district designation in addition to becoming a modern 21st Century Sustainable building. Sustainable improvements include exterior building envelope improvements, a highly efficient Variable Refrigerant Flow HVAC system with individual zone control, and a new LED lighting system with occupancy sensor controls. To achieve LEED Gold, it was decided that a variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system with a dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) with localized space controls would be the ideal HVAC solution for this project. This allows for significant user control of their space while minimizing long-term energy consumption. With this system, 4800 CFM of outdoor air was pre-conditioned saving over 10-tons of design cooling load. The VRF system provides a very high level of zoned temperature control and most spaces have their own thermostat.