Ashburn, Virginia, USA
This new park at Beaverdam Reservoir in Loudoun County, Virginia was master planned by nationally recognized landscape architect.
The park is funded and constructed under a partnership between Loudoun Water and NOVA Parks. The innovative park is designed with “source water protection” in mind.
The submitting architect designed a welcome center, crew boat house, and other pavilion facilities to complement the park’s mission of highlighting connections between ecological health, human health, and recreation.
The innovative park design includes a boat rental facility, trails, waterfront boardwalks, a bridge, plantings, educational exhibits, and other site features all designed to illustrate the source water protection theme.
Beaverdam Reservoir Park by studio27architecture, won an American Architecture Award 2025 from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
The same sustainable materials are used for all of the pavilions at Beaverdam. These materials help to foster an integrated design amongst the built pavilions and landscape that weave together infrastructure, nature, and architecture.
The siding on the pavilions are Radiata Pine wood panels, a sustainable and rapidly renewable resource that is almost maintenance free and offers a fifty year warranty.
The wood panel finishes drape structural steel frames that are anchored to the ground with bases of bluestone. These materials reference the pavilions to the agrarian structures that once doted the region.
The crew house is used by six local high schools to store “shells” and stage meets. The building provides storage for thirty-two eight-person shells and thirty-two four-person “shells”.
In addition to “shell” storage, the building includes changing rooms, restrooms and an exercise facility for competitors.
Enjoy a beautiful day on the placid waters of Beaverdam Reservoir. This pavilion on the water’s edge is used to store and rent paddleboards, canoes and kayaks.
Guests can also use the ramp to launch their personal car top, hand carry or inflatable paddle craft and non-motorized boats.
The welcome center is situated between the parking area and access to the reservoir. It provides meeting space, comfort facilities, a reception area, and retail for guests.
Park employees maintain their offices at the welcome center. Similar to the picnic and boat house pavilions, the welcome center roof structure serves as an ecological corridor, returning water to the reservoir or capturing and harvesting water for park operations.
Through their innovative butterfly roof design, the picnic pavilions serve as rain catchers. Water is captured and naturally filtered through bioretention basins before entering the reservoir, which is a vital source of drinking water for the community.
The pavilions include amenities such as tables, grills and electricity.
The park also includes educational features to inspire a sense of stewardship in all visitors.
Exhibits illustrate the importance of the reservoir, and its ecology help people understand the value of water to everyday life.
Source water protection themes will be featured throughout the park to remind visitors that the reservoir is first and foremost a source of clean drinking water for county residents.
Project: Beaverdam Reservoir Park
Architects: studio27architecture
Masterplanners: Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects
General Contractor: Meridian Construction Corp.
Clients: Loudoun Water and NOVA Parks
Photographers: Allen Russ Photography LLC.
