Fall news from studio aka
Our Client loves to play with their drone!
Our Client took this photo at sunrise over our Vineyard Retreat Home and it captures why we love working at this scale. Fog lifting off the ridgelines, vineyard rows catching first light, and a new home tucked into the hillside with gardens, native plants, and a pool.
Large properties ask different questions than a city garden. Where should the entry drive reveal the view, and where should it hold it back? How do working agricultural landscapes such as vineyards, meadows, and orchard meet the more intimate spaces around the house? How does stormwater move across a hundred feet of grade instead of ten? And how do we keep learning from this place year over year?
Opening Day!
On August 24, the first day of the 2026–27 school year, Dani Alexander dropped off her own DCPS kid and then headed off to join Mayor Bowser, DC Public Schools, and the Department of General Services to cut the ribbon on the newly expanded and newly renamed John R. Thompson Jr. High School (formerly MacArthur High School). It is the first new traditional neighborhood high school the District has built in more than 50 years, and the $91 million expansion grows the school from 200 to 800 students, with a new 33,000-square-foot building, a full floor of science labs, art and music rooms, an outdoor classroom, and views out to the Potomac.
The school now carries the name of the legendary Georgetown coach and educator, whose grandson Dylan Thompson told the crowd that seeing the city honor his grandfather's belief in education was "truly incredible."
Studio AKA has been part of this project since 2023, working with MCN Build and STUDIOS Architects on the entry plaza and arrival sequence, the outdoor classroom, and the planting and stormwater design. Keeping a school open through a major construction project is no small task, and we're grateful to the whole team as well as the students and staff who lived through the fences and the dust. Seeing it full of kids on day one was the best possible finish line.