Discussions on sustainable design in recent years have been focused on rating systems and certifications; however, a sustainable building can be so much more. When it comes to schools, sustainability must go beyond design and create institutions that provide students, faculty, staff, and community members with a space that celebrates learning and collaboration while fostering ethical relationships between people and the natural systems that support them. Classrooms have the potential to be living laboratories that produce sustainable students with minimal or no cost increase using a focus on high-value design.
The school building should serve as a canvas for student learning and exploration, while raising awareness about how the built environment and earth systems work together1. Imagine a classroom that not only provides a place for direct learning from teachers, but also allows students to explore concepts like electricity and solar energy using actual systems installed in the school. Displays demonstrating energy demand and use by using real-time data coupled with lessons on how energy works, help students to be more prepared for the 21st century workforce. Similarly, hands on activities connect students with a greater purpose, such as creating community gardens on school grounds by planting and harvesting crops that can then be used in local food kitchens, benefit students by providing new skills and also help the community through enhanced cohesion and food supply. By including sustainability in curriculum and programming, students adopt a global and social perspective.
Sustainable design creates student innovators who embody the principles of sustainability through programming, curriculum development, and active design. Students spend an estimated 16,000 hours inside a school building before they reach college. Designers have the ability to create environments that stimulate learning and provide improved health and activity during these precious hours, while conserving energy. A recent report published by Harvard demonstrates that students benefit from increased levels of lighting and indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and views and access to green space from reduced absenteeism to increased test scores2.
Benefits of health-optimized learning environments:
Performance-based design ensures conservation is considered as soon as pen hits paper. Traditional energy modeling requires building improvements in later stages that then compete for priority. Early modeling of energy allows for flexibility and innovation by analyzing the impacts of various design scenarios and learning from each one. The continuous improvement process allows both the designer and the building to raise the bar of performance and track it over time. The result is schools that save on operation and maintenance costs. According to a report by American Institute of Architects and The U.S. Green Building Council, sustainable schools can achieve indirect savings of almost $70 per square foot with $12/sf going directly back into the school in the way of energy savings, lowered water costs, improved teacher retention and lowered health costs3.
1 2017. NMC/CoSN Horizon Report > 2017 Kâ12 Edition. https://cdn.nmc.org/media/2017-nmc-cosn-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf
2 2017. Schools for Health: Foundations for Student Success. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. http://schools.forhealth.org/
3 2004. High-Performance Schools: Affordable Green Design for K-12 Schools.