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.
At the beginning of the planning process for Third Creek, the Iredell-Statesville district was interested in how better daylighting could benefit the school, and the architects were unsure how far they should push their interest in green design.
"We wondered, 'Should we tell them about LEED and all these other things we can do?'" Dunn says. "After we presented all the information to them, they said they wanted nothing less than silver. Now, in RFPs, districts ask specifically for LEED project experience, they want LEED-AP architects on the project team. It validates what we have been doing."
Moseley Architects has 11 school facilities that have earned LEED certification, says Dunn, and another 28 school projects have registered with the U.S. Green Building Council in hopes of receiving certification.
The sustainable strategies included in the Third Creek design have proven successful.
"Even though the building is being used 30 percent more than projected, it still is conserving energy as predicted," says Dunn. "It's saved $100,000 to $150,000 over five years. That has paid back everything green that we did."
More significant to educators is the improved academic performance of students during the first three years at Third Creek, compared with the test scores of the students who attended the two schools Third Creek replaced.
Changes in attitudes
Experience and technological refinements have helped planners and school administrators improve the sustainability of their construction projects over the years, but the greatest difference in a green school project today compared with a decade ago is the knowledge and acceptance of the concept, and the strategies used to achieve success.
"The perception was that it was going to cost a lot more, and schools didn't want to do it if it was going to cost more," says Brad Paulsen, an architect who is vice president of Wight & Co., Darien, Ill. "It wasn't a common part of the conversation as it is now. Now schools are bringing the conversation to us instead of our bringing it to them."
Wight architects designed Bolingbrook High School, which opened in 2004 and became the first high school in Illinois to receive a LEED rating. The green elements of the school's design include a highly reflective white roof to minimize the heat-island effect; a water-collection system that saves 360,000 gallons of water a year by reusing condensation from the air-handling system; views to the outside in 90 percent of classrooms; a lighting-control system to supplement the daylight; and using building materials with recycled content.
To win over school and university administrators skeptical about the benefits of green design and construction, Paulsen says he emphasizes four points:
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Going green is the right thing to do for the environment.
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A sustainable design will provide long-term savings over the life of an educational facility. "That gets a business manager's ear," says Paulsen.
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A learning environment designed with green principles (effective daylighting, good acoustics, good indoor air quality) can have a positive impact on student performance.
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The facility itself can be used as a learning tool. "The sites themselves are extensions of the classroom and become part of the instructional program," Paulsen says.
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