Education > Introduction

Most Americans spend over 90% of their time indoors, and every day our schools will house one-fifth of our country’s population: almost 6 million children and over 200,000 teachers and staff. There a few other settings in which 20 to 30 people occupy such a small space or work on such a wide range of activities as in a school classroom. Yet for years, we have asked them to do in poorly lit, heated, cooled, and ventilated spaces. Why do we continue repeating the same deficiencies in school building after school building? How do we change for the better - for our children and their potential?

High Performance Schools

Designing and building a high performance school does not mean buying and installing the latest, most expensive equipment. Rather, it is a design philosophy focused on choices that improve the learning environment while saving our natural resources. Creating a high performance school is not difficult, but it requires and integrated, “whole building,” team approach to the design and construction process. Key systems and technologies must be considered together, from the beginning of the design process, and optimized based on their combined impact on the comfort and productivity of the students, teachers and staff. A high performance school is:

Healthy: Indoor air quality and ventilation effectiveness are critical due to the significant amount of time students, teachers and staff spend inside our schools. With children’s increased susceptibility to indoor pollutants, creating healthy buildings that breathe with a high and consistent level of indoor air quality is of huge importance.

Thermally, visually, and acoustically comfortable: Thermal comfort means that students, teachers and staff should be neither hot nor cold as they learn, teach and work. Visual comfort means that quality lighting makes visual tasks, such as reading and following classroom presentations, easier. The lighting for each classroom is designed, not simply specified. Acoustic comfort means that students, teachers and staff can hear one another easily. Noisy ventilation systems are eliminated, and the design minimizes the amount of disruptive outdoor and indoor noise affecting the classroom.

Energy efficient: Energy efficient schools cost less to operate – sometimes as much as thirty to fifty percent less in energy costs, which means more money is available to spend on books, computers, teacher salaries, and other items essential to the educational goals of schools. Energy efficient schools also reduce emissions to the environment, helping to create a healthier environment for the school and the community.

Material efficient: The school will incorporate building materials that have been recycled or are rapidly renewable materials thereby conserving our natural and raw materials. The school will be designed and built in a manner that reduces waste and keeps re-usable or recyclable materials out of the landfill.

Water efficient: High performance schools are designed to use water efficiently, saving money while reducing the depletion of aquifers and river systems, and minimizing the use of sewage treatment systems. The building can be designed to capture and use rainwater for flushing toilets, irrigating some of the landscape and as water features in the building to help with cooling and humidity control.

Easy to maintain and operate: Building systems are simple and easy to use and maintain. Teachers and staff have control over temperature, airflow, acoustics, and lighting in their classrooms, and are trained how to most effectively use them.

Commissioned: The school operates the way it was designed and meets the district’s needs. This happens through a formal commissioning process – a form of system’s check for the facility. The process tests and verifies the performance of key building systems in order to facilitate their performance at the highest level of efficiency and comfort, and then trains the staff to properly operate and maintain the systems.

Environmentally responsive site: The site is recognized as an essential element of the school building’s high performance features. To the extent possible, the school’s site conserves natural areas and restores damaged ones; minimizes storm water run-off and controls erosion; and incorporate products and techniques that do not introduce pollutants or degradation to the project site and environment.

A teaching tool: By incorporating important concepts such as energy, water, and material efficiency, schools ca become tools to illustrate a wide spectrum of scientific, mathematical, and social issues. Heating, ventilation, and cooling systems; lighting equipment; and controls systems can be used to illustrate lessens on energy use and conservation, and daylighting systems can help students understand the daily and yearly movement of the sun.

Safe and secure: High performance does not compromise safety. A secure environment is created primarily by design: opportunities for natural surveillance are optimized; a sense of community is reinforced; and access is controlled.

A community resource: The most successful schools have a high level of parent and community involvement. This involvement can be enhanced if the school is designed for neighborhood meetings and other community functions.

Stimulating architecture: We are products of our environment and the architecture of our schools should be vibrant and exciting, promote community pride, and enhance the ability to learn.

Morrison Kattman Menze, Inc. is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council with LEED Accredited Professionals on staff. We are experienced with green architecture and sustainable design and can help you apply these benefits to your next school project. More information on high performance schools is also available at www.chps.net, www.energystar.org, and www.usgbc.org.