The Elon W. Rhodes Early Education Center is a new-two story addition to Smithland Elementary School in Harrisonburg Virginia.  This 16,000 SF facility is primarily used for pre-kindergarten students and will consist of eight classrooms, a special education center, conference rooms and a new administration area.  The structural components consists of concrete foundations, a steel frame structure and a combination of brick and curtain wall facades.  An insulated EPDM roofing membrane is utilized to weatherproof the addition.  An enclosed pedestrian bridge will connect the existing school to the new facility and will cross over the existing fire access road.  Interior spaces are finished with educational casework, sheet carpeting, tile carpeting, wood flooring and ceramic flooring.  There is a mixture of different ceiling types including acoustic panels, gypsum board, wood panel as well as tongue and groove wood systems.

A geothermal well system is installed on the project site to be utilized by the mechanical and plumbing systems.  Other site work entails reworking of the existing fire access route to comply with site access regulations, maintaining and reworking playground equipment and providing separate utility connections to the new addition.  The existing bio-retention system on site was removed and new grading and retaining systems were installed to meet the new site layout.