Southface Journal Fall 2006

Buildings that Teach

Building schools that enhance the learning experience

Why are buildings built? And more importantly, for whom are they built? Buildings need to be more than simply shelter; they should allow occupants to thrive.

Some of our society’s most important buildings are being constructed to house school children. The better the building and the learning environment, the happier and healthier the children are and the more they are able to learn. Children in schools are like sponges. They absorb lessons from everything around them. So whether they know it or not, their school building is a learning tool. Working with building professionals, Southface helps to ensure that those learning tools are as nurturing and educational as possible.

Children have just begun a new school year – whether in a K-12 program or attending a university or community college. Luckily, some of them may be attending a new high-performance school.

K-12 school districts across the country notably in Texas, California and North Carolina, have been building high-performance schools for the past several years. Georgia has some early-adopters in the private school and university arena, such as Woodward Academy, Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, all of whom have built “green” facilities in recent years. In the works is a high-performance public school in south DeKalb County. Southface has been working with the DeKalb County School System over the course of the past several years to set the planning in motion. The design of this high-performance school is well underway, as the architect and the construction team have launched a collaborative effort to make the most of this building that teaches.

All Georgia students would be fortunate to attend school in a high performance building, as students tend to learn 20 – 25% faster in math and reading¹ in such an environment. High performaning schools see less absenteeism as well. Carbon Dioxide sensors can adjust the air-flow of the mechanical system providing more fresh air, when there are more students in the room, but only the amount necessary, to save energy. This method of delivering appropriate ventilation can help students remain attentive. Materials like paints and carpet that contain fewer VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) are usually installed in high-performance schools, eliminating a potential source of headaches, sickness and allergies. A school low in VOCs is a healthier school.

At Southface, we are committed to assisting school administrations across the southeast to design and build high-performance facilities. Through education, research, advocacy and technical assistance, Southface is having an impact on the future of Georgia’s educational facilities. The Commercial Green Building Services team is dedicated to making the region’s schools healthier, as well as energy and resource efficient.

Education

Evidence of Southface’s commitment begins with education of architecture and construction students. For a “Green Construction” class, in its fourth year at Georgia Tech, Southface staff members team up with the professor to offer students a course that takes them through environmental concerns associated with the building industry, as well as the extenuating green design and construction techniques. Southface amplifies its educational mission by teaching architects, engineers, contractors, building owners, product manufacturers, government officials and school facility managers about the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) rating system. The LEED program is administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) – a voluntary, consensus-based organization made up of professionals from all of these fields. LEED awards points for energy savings, water reduction, daylighting, installation of low VOC materials, reduction of construction waste and other sustainable strategies. Almost 500 building-related professionals have taken full-day trainings and attended LEED study sessions through Southface in the past four months alone.

Members of Southface’s staff are often called upon to teach sessions at events ranging from university seminars and lectures to trade shows and professional meetings. Speaking at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) conferences and events, universities, such as Southern Polytechnic in Marietta and LaGrange College outside of Newnan, and at private institutions, such as the Galloway School in Atlanta, staff members spread the word about sustainability. By teaching students, future building-related professionals and current professionals who design, build and operate schools, Southface is making an impact on the future of education in our region.

Following Woodward's goal to have all three of the new Middle School Campus buildings LEED Certified, the design team tracked the requirements of LEED NC v. 2.1, and achieved Silver Certification for the Classroom Building (above) and Certification for both the Art Building and the Dining Hall (right). Sustainable aspects which significantly contributed to certification include bioretention storm water control, exemplary use of Local and Regional Materials, use of Recycled Materials, incorporation of Daylighting and Views, and exemplary Indoor Environmental Quality.

Research

The USGBC recently opened their new LEED for Schools program for public comment. As LEED administrators for school projects in the southeast, members of the Southface Commercial Green Building Services team have been asked to submit comments based on their first-hand experience with greening school construction. The LEED for Schools draft is based on LEED for New Construction, version 2.2 and specifically addresses areas of interest to schools, such as acoustics and mold prevention. Members of our Commercial Green Building Services team have been researching ways in which the draft will effect schools in Georgia and have been diligently planning the comments they will submit in fall 2006. Their comments will be reviewed by the USGBC and taken into consideration for LEED for Schools, due out in the winter of 2007.

Advocacy

Southface advocates for sustainability in a number of ways. As an affiliate of the USGBC, the organization teaches, administers and promotes the LEED program. In November 2005, Southface served as host of the USGBC national conference, the largest green building conference in the nation, with over 10,000 attendees. A representative from Southface serves on several USGBC program development committees and sits on the board of the Atlanta Chapter of the USGBC, coordinating and planning events for its members. Commercial Green Building Services team members serve on the Southeast Regional Council of the USGBC, facilitating work with USGBC chapters in the region. Southface has taught full-day LEED trainings and conducted workshops on tax-incentives for energy savings. In a commercial building such tax-incentives can save a building owner or a public school design team up to $1.80 per square foot over code requirements by improving the envelope, the heating and air-conditioning and lighting. It’s a win for the team. It’s a win for the school. It’s a win for the environment.

Another way that Southface promotes green building is through a group called Emerging Green Builders (EGB) – a committee of the USGBC. Commercial Green Building Services team members serve at both the national and local levels of the EGB. Southface has partnered with young professionals and students from Georgia Tech in establishing the Atlanta EGB chapter with the goal of encouraging students and young professionals in all building-related areas to make an impact on green building through partnership with the Atlanta Chapter of the USGBC.

At Southface’s Summer Solstice party, the Atlanta EGB chapter held their first membership drive and is currently developing programs and events in partnership with the Atlanta Chapter of the USGBC. This close working relationship creates a forum for Emerging Green Builders to network with seasoned green building professionals and opens the door to mentoring and employment opportunities between the two groups.

Technical Assistance

Southface’s Commercial Green Building Services team provides a variety of technical assistance services for schools, universities and other commercial facilities. For example, the Commercial Green Building Services team facilitates green building charrettes for building owners who are looking to improve the quality and performance of their existing or planned facilities, as well as conducting energy audits and providing LEED administration services.

Southface has organized and hosted charrettes for various educational organizations in the recent past. A Montessori school in Macon has benefited from a green-building charrette facilitated by members of the Commercial Green Building Services team. While still looking for a location for their future facility, the administration and board are armed with the knowledge to make their buildings work with the site, reduce the amount of stormwater coming off the site, incorporate gardens into their grounds and use these elements as a teaching tools for the children. They will save energy in the facility and have learned how to manage the waste coming from their site during construction as well as during the future operation of the building.

The Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, being built just outside Atlanta, benefited from a green-building charrette facilitated by Southface. The charrette served as a means of education for the owners and became the catalyst for implementing the LEED program at their school. Working day to day on the Mount Vernon Presbyterian School’s new campus expansions, the Southface Commercial Green Building Services team serves as the lead environmental consultant for this project. One of the main goals for the Mount Vernon’s leadership is to have the new building function as a teaching tool, providing a superior learning environment by being energy and water efficient and offering exemplary indoor air quality. By providing building design recommendations, serving as the LEED Project Administrator and performing energy modeling, Southface provides the technical assistance Mount Vernon Presbyterian School needs to reach its green building goals.

In partnership with our state energy office, The Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority (GEFA), Southface recently conducted an eco-charrette for the new Arabia Mountain High School project. This charrette was held in Lithonia for the DeKalb County School System. Slated to be the first LEED-certified public school in the state of Georgia, this charrette brought together school board members, teachers and the design and construction team to focus on the issues of site, water and energy use at the new Arabia Mountain High School. The charrette assisted the project team in identifying the environmental goals the project will achieve. By strengthening the project team’s commitment to sustainability, the charrette facilitated “buy-in” from the team members for green building strategies for the new high school.

Turning to higher education, both LaGrange College and the University of Georgia will benefit from green-building charrettes later this fall. Both schools are devoted to providing the best working, teaching and learning environments for their faculty, staff and students.

In addition to providing charrette services to university systems, Southface staff members provide technical assistance in another way. Southface is providing green building technical assistance to the design team of a new dormitory facility at Emory University through the EarthCraft House Multifamily program. A design review was performed, energy modeling has been conducted and testing of the facility has taken place. The residence will be certified under the EarthCraft Multifamily Program, as well as the ENERGY STAR™ Residence Hall / Dormitory Program. As a follow-up, Southface will conduct post-occupancy reviews with the tenants to discuss energy conservation and operations of their facility. For more information on the EarthCraft House™ program, please visit www.earthcrafthouse.org.

As proponents of ENERGY STAR, Southface was recently awarded a grant from the Department of Energy to promote and offer technical assistance in the ENERGY STAR K-12 Schools Program. Commercial Green Building Services team members will be able to assist Georgia schools in using the tools available from the ENERGY STAR program. For additional information on the ENERGY STAR K-12 Schools Program, see the accompaning story on page 9.

As Southface continues pursuing the mission to promote sustainable homes, workplaces and communities through education, research, advocacy and technical assistance we look forward to continuing our support of southeastern schools in their quest to make sustainable, healthy building a priority.

There are many ways that Southface works within the environmental community. Be sure to check www.southface.org for information on upcoming educational events and activities.

Have a great school year and please call on Southface for your sustainable building needs.

Candice Moore Groves, Kelly Gearhart, Katie Bergfeld and Gavin Gregory contributed to this story.

Footnote 1: Heschong Mahone Group, Inc – Daylighting in Schools, 1999 & PIER report 2003

Green Schools Literature

ENERGY STAR for K-12 School Districts.
The annual energy bill to run America’s primary and secondary schools is a staggering $6 billion — more than is spent on textbooks and computers combined. The least efficient schools use three times more energy than the best energy performers; and top performing ENERGY STAR labeled schools cost forty cents per square foot less to operate than the average performers. Building to ENERGY STAR standards is a commitment to our students and communities, as well as to the environment.

Constructing a building that achieves top energy performance is a sign of good management and creating a number of structures, such as the myriad of buildings needed to run a school district, that achieve continuous improvement in energy performance, demonstrates superior management and environmental leadership. Those ENERGY STAR partners who demonstrate continuous improvement organization-wide, not just in individual buildings, qualify for recognition as ENERGY STAR Leaders. For more information, please visit www.energystar.gov/ia/business/k12_schools/factsheet_0804.pdf

Ecological Design and Building Schools: Green Guide to Educational Opportunities in the United States and Canada
by Sandra Leibowitz Earley, RA, CSI, LEED AP, 168 pp., New Village Press
Ecological Design and Building Schools in North America features an annotated listing of schools and educational centers offering top programs in ecological design and construction. The guide also offers a comprehensive 20-year review of sustainable design educational initiatives and a discussion of current educational offerings, plus extensive tables comparing school programs, listings of curricular resources, related organizations and individual instructors.

As the field of ecological/sustainable/green building education is ever-evolving, this book focuses on what is available today, acknowledging and showcasing the efforts of those who have made it possible, while offering tangible options for future development.

About the Author:

Sandra Leibowitz Earley is a registered LEED® accredited architect who focuses on greener solutions for the built environment. She founded Sustainable Design Consulting, which provides a range of green building services and design specifications for commercial, institutional and multi-family residential projects in the Mid-Atlantic states and beyond.

Safe and Healthy School Environments
Edited by Howard Frumkin, Robert Geller, I. Leslie Rubin with Janice Nodvin, 480 pages, Oxford University Press 2006.
Millions of children and adults across the nation spend their days in school buildings and they need safe, healthy environments to thrive, learn and succeed. This book explores the school environment using the methods and perspectives of environmental health science. Though environmental health has long been understood to be an important factor in workplaces, homes and communities, this is the first book to address the same basic concerns in schools. The editors are physicians and educators trained in pediatrics, occupational and environmental medicine and medical toxicology and the authors are experts in their fields drawn from across the United States and abroad.

Each section of the book addresses a different concern facing schools today. In the first six sections, various aspects of the school environment are examined. Chapters include the physical environment of the school, air quality issues, pest control, cleaning methods, food safety, safe designs of playgrounds and sports fields, crime and violence prevention and transportation.

In the last two sections, recommendations are made for school administrators on how to maximize the health of their schools. Appropriately evaluating the school environment, implementing strategies to address children and adults with disabilities, emphasizing health services, infectious disease prevention and recognition and occupational health for faculty and staff are all addressed.

The entire book is evidence-based, readable, generously illustrated and practical. An indispensable resource for parents, school staff, administrators, government officials and health professionals, this book is for anyone who cares about the health of our schools.

About the Author(s)

Edited by Howard Frumkin, M.D., Director, National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Robert J. Geller, M.D., Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine , I. Leslie Rubin, M.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Morehouse School of Medicine , and Janice Nodvin, Project Administrator, Emory Southeast Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, Emory University.