Home      About      Contact      Submit an Item      
Passive    PV    Homes    Commercial    Wind    Projects    DIY    Resources    Tools    Materials    
Watch Highline Park NYC Thumbnail

Highline Park NYC Video


Watch Twelve Essential Steps to Net Zero Energy

Twelve Essential Steps to Net Zero Energy Video


Watch Highline Park Design Thumbnail

Highline Park Design Video


  

 

 

 

If you have or know a solar project, please submit it to us for consideration as a featured project using Submit an Item. http://www.solaripedia.com/302/submit-an-item.html

Project

Sidwell Friends School Friendly to Environs

Credits: ©2010 Sidwell Friends School

The Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. is a well-known repository of the kids of power brokers - including presidential offspring. But the school has also become known for its environmental efforts, such as its energy-efficient middle school renovation. Several design factors contribute to the building’s energy economy such as its siting and orientation to optimize the use of daylight. Solar chimneys are designed for mechanically-assisted natural ventilation to minimize the need for artificial cooling, and south-facing glazing at the tops of the shafts heat the air within, creating a convection current which draws cooler air in through north-facing open windows. Classrooms were designed to optimize natural daylighting as the primary daytime illumination source. The school’s constructed wetland treats and recycles all building wastewater for graywater use within the building. Rainwater is collected and diverted through a vegetated roof using a series of scuppers, open downspouts and gutters, flow forms and spillways that direct the rainwater to a biology pond, which supports the native habitat. Building materials are reused, recycled, rapidly renewable and/or regionally acquired, including reclaimed wood on the exterior.

 

Sidwell Friends Solar Chimney Veg Roof2

To help maximize the project's energy efficiency, solar ventilation chimneys are placed in the Sidwell Friends Middle School in Washington, D.C., whose addition and extensive renovation was designed by KieranTimberlake Associates. ©2010 Barry Halkin Photography/Architectural Record

Earth-Friendly School
Kids at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., love their new 'green' campus.
By Rebecca Barns / March 2008, Christian Science Monitor -

What has light, fresh air, and is a great place to learn?

An ecofriendly middle school.

At Sidwell Friends Middle School in Washington, D.C., one of the newest teachers on campus this year (2008) is a building. From top to bottom it's energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and an inviting place to learn everything from science to singing.

It all started when the school needed more classroom space. Instead of tearing down the existing building, a construction crew brought in a bulldozer to clear out the interior, and an L-shaped addition went up beside it. The new, U-shaped building is filled with earth-friendly features, but the spacious rooms with huge windows are the first things you notice.

"The extra natural light in the classrooms really keeps you awake and enjoying the day," says Isabel Dorval, a ninth-grader at Sidwell.

Walkways made of what?
The architects chose natural, recycled, and renewable materials wherever possible. Most of these could be used with minimal impact on the environment. Doors were made with a veneer of bamboo (a fast-growing grass), bulletin boards with cork (which can be harvested without cutting down trees), and cabinets from wheatboard (which is made of wheat straw – the part of the plant that's left over after the grain is harvested).

Old materials were also reused in new ways. Bleachers from another school were used to make the window trim. Wood for walkways came from a pier in Baltimore. The "skin" on the outside of the building was made with wood from wine casks. The sun is turning the boards a beautiful silvery gray.

On the roof, tall, glass-sided chimneys vent warm air, creating a current that pulls cool, fresh air through the building's north-facing windows. Sixth-graders tend rooftop beds of herbs that they cut and bring to the cafeteria. Native plants help insulate the building and filter rain-water that flows through downspouts to the landscaped area below.

Recycled water
Instead of planting a grass lawn, the school created a terraced wetland area and pond by the main entrance. The area has become a hands-on science lab where students take water samples, identify microorganisms, and study wildlife.

Another important purpose of the wetlands is to treat the water from sinks and toilets.

Waste goes into an underground tank, where tiny organisms begin to break it down. Then it filters through plants, rock, and sand in the wetland and back through the building to be used in sinks and toilets and to cool machinery. Fresh water in drinking fountains comes from the city supply. The school uses about 90 percent less water than a traditionally built school of the same size.

"My favorite place is probably the benches outside by the wetlands," says Isabel. "It feels like it's a little habitat out there because you're enclosed on three sides by the building. There's a mural that illustrates the sedimentation process. That brings awareness of what's happening right in front of you. That's very neat."

Lessons from the building
Mechanical controls, vents, and pipes in plain view make it easier to understand how everything works. Along the wide, open hallways filled with natural light, wind chimes in vents signal when fresh air is being taken into the building. In science class, everyone reads the monitors to note how temperature and levels of carbon dioxide change throughout the day.

The building is a great place for environmental detective work, too.

"I asked the students to look around and tell me where paper was used to make something in the classroom," says Jennifer Mitchell, who teaches fifth-grade science. "One student looked up and said it was in the ceiling tiles, and he was right. The ceiling tiles are made from recycled newspaper."

Let the sunshine in
The building's greatest energy saving is in its use of light. The large windows have light shelves above that reflect natural light farther into rooms without letting in heat from the sun. On the south side of the building, where the sun is strongest, horizontal screens shade classrooms from glare. On the east and west sides, vertical screens shade windows when the sun is low.

Some days, the overhead fluorescent lights never need to be turned on. That saves not only the energy it takes to keep lights on; it also saves the energy it takes to cool down the building from all the heat that lights can generate. The result is that such an efficient building has helped the school cut its energy use by 60 percent.

All about the environment
From the day the doors to the new building opened, changes have echoed through Sidwell Friends School. The cafeteria has been serving more organic and locally grown food.

There's an environmental club called ECO, and students have begun to teach their parents about more energy-efficient ways of doing things at home.

"We have such an opportunity here," says Ms. Mitchell. "As you learn about the building, it makes you think how much sense it makes to do things this way."

Isabel likes science very much and says the new building has made science even more interesting for her.

"It went from little in-class experiments to really learning about the school itself as an experiment," she says. "I think I can speak for our whole grade, saying that suddenly you just understood your environment and how you affect it."


Documents

  Sidwell Friends Middle School Wetland Machine (504 kb)


Resources

Sidwell Friends Building Dashboard

Andropogon Associates (USA)

Sidwell Friends School (Washington DC, USA)

KieranTimberlake Associates

Sidwell Friends Middle School AIA/COTE Case Study