Built to Last
May 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Mike Kennedy (mkennedy@asumag.com)
Early proponents of sustainable-design strategies provided facilities that are fulfilling their promise to save energy and improve education.
Third Creek Elementary School, Statesville, N.C.; Architect: Moseley Architects, PC; Photo courtesy of Spark Productions
It wasn't that long ago that when education architects and administrators raised the notion of green construction or sustainable-design strategies, they were met with head scratches and raised eyebrows.
When she was working on the plans for Third Creek Elementary School in Statesville, N.C., in the early 2000s, Bryna Dunn, the director of environmental planning and research at Moseley Architects in Richmond, Va., recalls that her questions to vendors and contractors created suspicion and even hostility.
"We were getting a lot of pushback from vendors," says Dunn. "I would try to find out what was in products, and I would get a whole range of unpleasant responses. Some of them were thinking I was trying to reveal their trade secrets."
But in 2009, the energy-saving, water-conserving, environmentally friendly philosophies championed by those in the vanguard of the green schools movement have become not just widely accepted, but openly coveted by school systems, higher-education institutions, and the communities they serve.
A key reason for this transformation of attitudes in the education field is that the early adopters of sustainable approaches delivered on their promises: facilities that offer more healthful learning environments, use less energy, consume less water, waste fewer resources and help students improve their performance.
"Ten years ago, they would say, 'Don't bring that stuff to our campus,'" says Casey Cassias, an architect with BNIM in Kansas City, Mo. "Now they say they want at least LEED silver."
A good start
Third Creek Elementary, which opened in 2002, was the first K-12 school facility to earn a gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. Seven years later, a gold LEED rating for a school still is rare, but Dunn sees areas where the building's performance would be enhanced if it were being designed now.
"It has daylight, but it could have had a lot more daylight," says Dunn. "We could only go so far a decade ago. With technology, we could do more with it now."
Identifying the strategies to come up with a green school design was not a problem several years ago, Dunn says. The greater obstacle was finding the appropriate materials and equipment, and the companies that could provide them.
"We did waterless urinals and low-flow fixtures, but it's a lot easier to find them now," says Dunn. "Now you can pick and choose."
When planners were able to find the products and equipment that would enable them to meet sustainable design goals, they often found they were not affordable. Dunn says that a decade ago, products that emitted minimal amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) usually were too expensive.
"The options for low-VOC products were limited by costs," says Dunn. "Now every manufacturer has a low-VOC line. In some cases it's cheaper than the products that aren't low-VOC."
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
