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SO GREEN, IT'S PLATINUM
Sidwell Friends School First K-12 School to Receive U.S. Green Building Council's Highest Honor of Platinum Certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Washington, DC-The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has awarded its highest rating of Platinum certification to a new middle school building at Sidwell Friends School. The Sidwell Friends School award is the first Platinum certification the Council has conferred on a K-12 school anywhere in the world. It is also the first Platinum-rated building in Washington, D.C. Only 32 buildings around the globe have received Platinum ratings from the Council, and until now, none have been elementary, middle or high schools, and none were in the metropolitan D.C.area. But that changed once Sidwell Friends opened a state-of-the-art Middle School last September that was designed to meet the Council's highest standards for "green" design and environmental sustainability.
Guided by a tenant of its Quaker faith, to be stewards of the Earth, Sidwell Friends designed a middle school that would tread lightly on the environment. A 39,000 square foot addition was added to the existing renovated building, more than doubling the useable space. Virtually every material in the three-level, U-shaped structure was selected for environmental impact. The skin of the building is 50-year-old western red cedar reclaimed from wine barrels. The walkways inside the school lobby are made from greenheart pilings retrieved from the Baltimore Harbor. Overall, the new Middle School uses 60% less energy than a conventional building of its size and 93% less city water.
The building is a central feature of an invigorated environmental science curriculum providing a hands-on laboratory for students to learn about ecology and environmental sciences. The building's exposed, observable mechanical systems provide passive instruction on topics such as stormwater management, wastewater recycling and solar electricity generation. Dozens of building monitors log data on variables such as temperature, water flow, water turbidity, and CO2 levels enabling students in the building, and soon, by virtue of the Internet, around the world, to study building functions and monitor the "health" of the facility. A green roof, complete with student gardens that will supply the School cafeteria with organic herbs and vegetables, provides additional teaching space.
"This is absolutely intended to be a paradigm shifting facility," says Head of School Bruce Stewart. "Sidwell Friends School hopes and believes that this will change the way children are educated across the nation and around the world."
The centerpiece of the new Middle School is a constructed wetland, the first of its kind in Washington, DC. The tiered structure takes wastewater coming out of the building, cleans it using biological processes and then channels it back into the building through a separate set of plumbing that feeds the water into the toilets and cooling systems.
"This building turns the 'out of sight, out of mind' mentality on its head," says Mike Saxenian, Sidwell Friends' Assistant Head of School and Chief Financial Officer. "What we usually don't see at all and don't want to think about now becomes the centerpiece for something beautiful. We realize that we are part of nature and we need to treat it gently."
GREEN FEATURES
There are four main "green" components to the new Middle School. They are:
1. Water Management:
A constructed wetland that treats building wastewater on site.
Green roof vegetation that holds and filter rainwater; gutters and downspouts that direct rainwater to a biology pond, which supports native habitat.
Biologically diverse native plantings surrounding the building that do not require additional watering.
2. Energy Efficiency:
Building orientation, passive and mechanically assisted ventilation, solar chimneys and other features reduce the need for supplemental energy for heating and cooling.
Window placement, skylights and reflective panels maximize use of natural light in new and existing classrooms, reducing energy associated with lighting by 92%.
In every classroom, a dual system of light-filtering roller shades can be adjusted to accommodate natural light changes as well as room darkening requirements for AV projection.
5% of the building's total electrical load is generated by photovoltaic panels located on the roof.
3. Building Materials:
Recycled, natural, rapidly renewable and locally produced materials such as cork, gypsum, linoleum, bamboo and wheatboard substrate are used to furnish the building. These materials are harvested with minimal environmental impact.
The skin of the building is of western red cedar, reclaimed from wine casks.
Existing building was not demolished, but rather renovated and enlarged to further reduce damage to the environment.
4. Indoor Air Quality:
Paints, carpets and adhesives were selected for low emission of volatile organic compounds. Fresh air ventilation is separated from heating and cooling so that each can be calibrated to the number of occupants and outdoor temperature.
A HEALTHY SCHOOL
Sidwell Friends has partnered with Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies to assess the physical, emotional, intellectual and interpersonal impact of the new Middle School on students, teachers and staff. The study marks one of the first opportunities for scholars to examine this kind of setting both before and after its development.
In March 2006, the Yale research team, led by Stephen Kellert, Tweedy Ordway Professor of Social Ecology, and Judith Heerwagen, environmental psychologist, gathered statistics on academic grades and asked students and faculty to complete surveys designed to measure such variables as health, productivity and sense of well being. Seventh graders participated in a mapping exercise in which they were asked to draw their favorite places in the School. Researchers plan to repeat the exercise this spring to assess changes in both group and individual responses.
PLATINUM CERTIFICATION
Created by the USGBC in 1993, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a nationally accepted certification program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED endorses a whole-building approach to sustainability by measuring performance in five key areas: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
To earn certification, building projects must meet specific prerequisites and performance standards within each category. There are four levels of certification: Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The more credits, the higher the recognition and certification. The rating system is out of 69 points and a project needs a minimum of 26 points to become certified. The point system is as follows:
26 - 32 points: Certified
33 - 38 points: Silver
39 - 51 points: Gold
52 - 69 points: Platinum
Sidwell Friends School achieved 57 points in the following areas:
11 points: Sustainable Sites
5 points: Water Efficiency
13 points: Energy and Atmosphere
8 points: Materials & Resource
15 points: Indoor Environmental Quality
5 points: Innovation & Design Process
To date, USGBC has certified approximately 30 schools. Certification is currently pending for an additional 750.
PARTNERS
Sidwell Friends has partnered with the internationally-recognized architecture firm KieranTimberlake Associates LLP. Based in Philadelphia, the firm is known for its inventive design and planning services. Clients have included Duke, Princeton, Yale and Middlebury College as well as independent schools such as Shipley School in Philadelphia and Wilmington Friends School.
Sidwell Friends is also working with Andropogon Associates, LTD, a leading landscape architecture firm in Philadelphia. Pioneers in the field of ecological planning and design, Andropogon Associates seeks to integrate the functional needs of the built environment with ecologically sound alternatives in an effort to create sustainable landscapes. Clients have included Oberlin, Skidmore, Princeton, and the University of Virginia.
Guidance in the LEED certification process has been provided by GreenShape, Integrative Design Collaborative and a host of specialized consultants.
ABOUT SIDWELL FRIENDS SCHOOL
Sidwell Friends School is a PK-12, co-educational Quaker day school with campuses in Washington, DC and Bethesda, MD. Founded in 1883, the School is a non-profit, tax-exempt institution governed by an independent Board of Trustees. The School's address is 3825 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20016. For more information, please visit www.sidwell.edu.
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