The construction of a Kanawha County school won its designers an award from the West Virginia chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Clendenin Elementary School was among thousands of structures destroyed by catastrophic flooding in 2016. Students spend years in portable classrooms until a permanent facility could be built. Last year, a state-of-the-art building took its place on a hill above the floodplain, which includes a modern kitchen, geothermal HVAC unit, STEM lab, classroom pods and a dentist office. Earlier this month, the 65,000-square-foot structure earned ZMM Architects and Engineers an AIA WV Merit Award for Achievement in Architecture, according to a news release from ZMM. Our partners at Eyewitness News posted photos of the school.