Thomas Jefferson Elementary School Overcomes Earthquake Disaster

Charlottesville, VA –A ribbon cutting ceremony marked the beginning of an era for the newly constructed Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Louisa County on Monday. School Board officials, Louisa County School administrators, staff, and members of the community gathered to celebrate the completion of the elementary school, which was destroyed by a magnitude-5.8 earthquake in August 2011. The earthquake caused severe structural damage, making a new school the best option for moving forward.

Timmons Group, a leader in multi-discipline civil engineering and professional consulting services teamed with Rancorn Wildman Architects to deliver architecture and engineering service for the school design. Timmons Group provided civil engineering, surveying and landscape architecture services for the school, which was based on the design for Moss-Nuckols Elementary School. The school will include a separate entrance for community access to facilities like the gym, and a large courtyard in the middle for future science and garden activities.

“It’s been a true pleasure to work with Louisa County Public Schools during the design and construction of Thomas Jefferson Elementary School,” said Craig Kotarski, Project Manager for Timmons Group. “To see the community move forward and rebuild after the earthquake is commendable. This has truly been a unique project to work on.” Since the earthquake, elementary students were attending school in mobile units outside Trevilians Elementary. “I know they are excited to return this fall,” said Kotarski.

For more information, visit www.timmons.com.

Featured

  • Houston K–12 District Opens New Elementary School

    The Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (Lamar CISD) recently announced the completion of a new elementary school in a western suburb of Houston, Texas, according to a news release. Haygood Elementary School measures in at 110,000 square feet, has the capacity for 854 students, and is the first of three new schools scheduled to be built in the Cross Creek West community.

  • Different Starting Points, Same End Goal

    Higher education campuses can enhance student experience by implementing mobile credentials to streamline building access, on-campus payments, and access to other amenities. This enables students to connect to their campuses through the technology they use most: their mobile devices.

  • Preparing for the Next Era of Healthcare Education, Innovation

    Across the country, public universities and community colleges are accelerating investments in healthcare education facilities as part of a broader strategy to address workforce shortages, modernize outdated infrastructure, and expand clinical training capacity. These projects, which are often located at the center of campus health and science districts, are no longer limited to traditional classrooms.

  • Spaces4Learning Trends & Predictions for Educational Facilities in 2026: Part I

    We asked, you answered, and the results are in! Last year, we put out a call for submissions to collect our readership’s opinion on trends and predictions for K–12 and higher education facilities in 2026.

Digital Edition