Pub. 3 2020 Directory

45 to function. This system is accessible to all the science and math classrooms for teaching applied concepts. The District’s intent to make this a facility that contributes to the community was addressed by developing the cafeteria into a stage and performance space and creating the east courtyard as an amphitheater for outdoor events. The entire design was approached with the focus on maximizing expenditure to provide the necessary programmatic requirements with aesthetics that build school pride and community respect for the tax dollars invested. The cost- efficient strategies resulted in a construction cost of 25% less than that allocated for the project with no cut in program space. The Cost. Spending education tax dollars efficiently is evident in the actual building construction cost of $304.00 per square foot instead of the current trend in the area upward of $335.00. Cost strategies offset with aesthetic sensibility resulted in over 10% savings (with no program cuts required). Sustainable Design Intent and Innovation: The school is intended to be an energy-efficient, high-performance school. The goals set forth by the School District seemed challenging if not impossible: in summary, the School District set out to build its first facility that would utilize under half the energy of their typical middle school, increase the academic performance of the students, improve indoor air quality, safety, and comfort and set an example of environmental sensitivity; all of this with a construction cost that would not exceed that of a similar-size traditional school. Natural light is the building’s primary source of lighting, which directly benefits daylighting techniques such as light shelves at all standard classrooms, skylights in athletic spaces and cafeteria and floor to floor windows in the media center, team rooms and main corridor. The building responds ideally to the sun’s path, oriented 20 degrees east of south to minimize heat gain. There is no boiler, chiller or cooling tower. The ground source heat pump system provides extraordinary benefits in heating and cooling the entire facility. 100% of reclaimed water for site irrigation and directing excess stormwater to the site’s adjacent wetland provides responsible reuse of water. Indoor air quality measures include operable windows in all perimeter classrooms, media center library and administration areas. These features are estimated to equate to 60% less energy than a traditional District Middle School. Documentation of specific material choices: Exposed Concrete Masonry Units (CMU) structure was selected as a prominent building material to provide permanence, efficient construction strategies, virtually no maintenance, excellent structural properties, aesthetic integrity, compliance anti-terrorism, and protection against rot and mold. The greater the resilience, the lower the maintenance and reduced use of virgin materials. Also, CMU’s thermal mass and its ability to store heat and help hold conditioned spaces’ temperature can reduce energy bills and improve thermal comfort in the building. Single-ply roofing is utilized as a positive impact on the environment. The longevity of single-ply roofing reduces waste as it is recycled during the manufacturing process and recycled once it has reached its life’s use. Removing these materials from the waste stream significantly reduces the burden on landfills and waste processing efforts. In addition to its recyclability factors, it reduces the urban heat island effect (UHI) and has a long service life. Compared to other roofing materials, less energy is needed to produce the material and process it into the end product. Non-toxic, low VOC carpet tiles are utilized in the classrooms with a low VOC, water-based, pressure-sensitive acrylic adhesive. In other school areas, polished concrete is used to reduce maintenance and use of toxic cleaning chemicals. Low VOC’s are good for both the environment and living organisms. The monitoring of lead content in all paints and finishes was taken very seriously. All materials, including all paint colors and metal panel coating colors underwent strict chemical lab testing with a local chemist to ensure that advertised Zero-lead content literature was validated before design team approvals during the construction process. All plant material specified and installed meet or exceed the County’s drought-tolerant species requirement, which significantly reduces water demand. The glass specified is a Low-E coated glass with a U-Factor of 0.28 maximum and a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient of 0.27 max. Exterior light shelves made of translucent polycarbonate material are incorporated to extend light further into the classrooms, reducing each room’s electrical demand. In addition, an operable window is included in all teaching spaces located on the perimeter of the building. b