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Explore the design and educational concepts of high performance schools, with a focus on Poquoson Elementary School. Discover the importance of the natural environment, transitions, and the hidden curriculum in shaping the learning process.
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High Performance Schools: • Poquoson Elementary School • A Regional and International Perspective • Presented by: • Robert Winstead, AIA, LEEDap • Director of Sustainable Design • VMDO Architects, PC • Bob Crowell, P.E. • Vice President • 2rw Consultants, Inc. • April 24, 2006
Poquosin (pa-koe’-sin) Algonquain, n – Swamp on a hill Chesapeake Bay Poquoson River Plum Tree Island National Wildlife Refuge Back River
“Poquosins store groundwater in deep peat, preventing rapid runoff and erosion, then filtering and cleaning the water before its decent into swamps and eventual return to the ocean. Poquosins also catch and store botanical detritus. Dead vegetative matter forms lush nurseries for infant fish that, like filtered water, ultimately descend to faster-moving vessels in the hydraulic circuit. Much of the once-alive detritus dissolves into carbon, however, and carbon, combined with hydrogen, oxygen, and other elements, creates life anew in many forms.”
Hurricane Isabel - 2004 Poquosin (pa-koe’-sin) Algonquain, n – Swamp on a hill
Poquoson City Public Schools • Programming - Lead Team • Architecture as Pedagogy • As commonly practiced, education has little to do with its specific setting or locality. The typical campus is regarded mostly as a place were learning occurs, but is, itself, believed to be the source of no useful learning. It is intended, rather, to be convenient, efficient, or aesthetically pleasing, but not instructive. It neither requires nor facilitates competence or mindfulness. By that standard, the same education could happen as well in California or in Kazakhstan, or on Mars, for that matter. • How do our buildings shape us? • The same could be said of the buildings.... Their design is thought to have little or nothing to do with the process of learning or the quality of scholarship that occurs in a particular place, when in fact buildings and landscape reflect a hidden curriculum that powerfully influences the learning process. • The curriculum embedded in any building instructs as fully and as effectively as any course taught in it.
Poquoson City Public Schools • Programming - Precedents CBF’s Phillip Merril Center for Environmental Studies Annapolis, Maryland Strawberry Vale Elementary School Victoria, British Columbia Lewis Center for Environmental Studies Oberlin College, Ohio Seabird Community School Agassiz, British Columbia IslandWood School Bainbridge Island, Washington
Poquoson City Public Schools • Programming – Site Visits
Poquoson City Public Schools • Programming – Project Themes • the natural environment • “To care for the environment, you must love it. To love it, you must know it. To know it, you must experience it.” • transitions • “In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world.” • Ben Okri, The Famished Road water land
Poquoson City Public Schools • Project Stats • Grades 3, 4, and 5 (future 6th) • 225 students per grade = 675 students (900 future) • plus core facilities for 225 additional students • +/- 85,000 GSF • Opening Spring/Summer 2008
Poquoson City Public Schools • Educational / • Space Program
Poquoson City Public Schools • LEED Advocate Committee • Currently registered under LEED v.2.1 • Currently pursuing 52 credits = Platinum rating • Applied for two $100,000 grants with VA DCR
Educational Concepts - Site Procession to the water Wetland Lab Nesting Stands Educational Signage Outdoor Classrooms Sundial/Model of the Solar System Educational Playgrounds
Educational Concepts - Grade “House” Community Identity (watershed) Fat “L” classrooms Break-out areas Flexible resource/project rooms Grade specific storage Dedicated service clusters
Educational Concepts - Building Separation of Public/Private Program Inside/Outside Increased Independence with Age
Stormwater/Wetlands • Net decrease in impervious area • Restore existing landfill to wetlands • Impact 0.16 acres of wetlands (roadside ditch) • Construct 1.6 acres of wetlands (tenfold increase)
$4,500 $1,400 / year Waterless Urinals • First cost savings • 9 fixtures x $500/fixture = $4,500 • Operational savings • 130,500 gal. X $6.76/1000 gal. = $882.18/year • ($75- $20) / fixture X 9 fixtures = $495.00/year • Educational • priceless 350 male occupants X 2 uses per day X 180 school days per year X 1 gallon per flush = 130,500 gallons per year
Poquoson City Public Schools • Lessons Learned • Good design takes time (more time than money) • Start early (before you pick up a pencil) • Identify a champion(s) • Become the experts – or get them on your team! • Collaborate, Communicate, Coordinate! • Keep it real – it’s about education!