HEADLINE NEWS

Jobs Bill Allocates $60 Billion for Renovating, Modernizing Schools

President Obama’s proposals in the American Jobs Act set aside $30 billion to renovate high schools and community colleges nationwide. An additional $30 billion would be used to help local jurisdictions hire and retain teachers. While the bill was defeated by a vote in the Senate on October 11, Congress is expected to take up parts of the measure separately later this year, including the school modernization provisions.

According to the White House, the bill would help save the jobs of as many as 280,000 teachers and modernize up to 35,000 schools. If passed, the legislation would prioritize assistance for rural schools and would also include dedicated funding for Bureau of Indian Education funded schools and for community colleges.

Funds could be used for a range of emergency repair and renovation projects as well as greening and energy efficiency upgrades, asbestos abatement and removal, and modernization efforts to upgrade technology in science and computer labs, all of which could spur more building and renovation projects.

Forty percent of the $30 billion intended for renovations would go to the 100 U.S. school systems with the greatest numbers of low-income students. The rest of the funds would be given to the states to allocate among their higher-need districts.

According to The Washington Post, states would have three to six months to get the money to the school districts, which would have two years to spend it on modernization projects.

For up-to-date information on the status of legislation related to the American Jobs Act, visit the Library of Congress’ legislative information site at http://thomas.loc.gov.

University Cuts Energy Costs, Saves $2 Million

As a result of a physical-plant initiative to maximize energy efficiency, the University of Southern Mississippi has cut energy consumption costs on its Hattiesburg campus by nearly $2 million in the past year―a quarter of the university’s annual utility expense budget. This program could be an example for other schools to follow.

“In the past three years, we’ve made a dedicated effort to impact utility consumption on campus,” says Physical Plant Director Chris Crenshaw. “The result is significant savings as we continue to solidify ourselves as a role model for energy efficiency and environmental responsibility.”

Highlights of the university’s efforts include:

Installation of state-of-the-art energy meters to improve energy-consumption tracking in several campus facilities.
Installation of Variable Frequency Drives that adjust energy use in buildings based on demand.
Installation of emergency management systems that adjust energy settings as appropriate on nights and weekends.
Installation of new, energy-efficient boilers.

The next phase in the university’s plans to save on utility costs is a $2 million energy retrofit program through the state’s Bureau of Buildings. Another campus energy efficiency project to be supported by the Bureau of Buildings will see $750,000 in upgrades to infrastructure. In addition, the university’s Cook Library will see the installation of energy-efficient lighting equipment with an estimated payback period of just 18 months.

“It’s exciting to see the savings resulting from the work we’re doing,” Crenshaw says. “Going forward, we’ll continue implementing new energy efficiency technology and strategies as they’re developed.”

Comprehensive Green Schools Website Launched

The Earth Day Network has launched the Green Schools Leadership Center, a website created to provide educators and students with the tools necessary to support environmental literacy and to share green school resources and success stories nationwide.

Earth Day Network has created the Green Schools Leadership Center as a resource for educators, students, and community members who want to help their schools and communities promote and achieve sustainability. The site also offers tools to help schools pursue the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools Award, which rewards schools that demonstrate significant progress in increasing environmental literacy, building schools that are energy efficient, and promoting health among students and staff.

The Green Schools Leadership Center provides information under broad topic areas including facilities, food, transportation, schoolyard/outdoors, and community engagement. An Educator’s Network section will enable teachers to share lesson plans, teaching materials, and blogs as well as student action plans.

For more information, visit the Green Schools Leadership Center at http://edu.earthday.org.

FEATURED NEWS

Award-Winning Projects Achieve Design Excellence

The award-winning projects in LEARNING BY DESIGN’s Fall 2011 issue represent the leading edge in educational design and architecture. Energy-efficient, flexible, and forward-thinking, these K-12 and college/university projects exemplify the opportunities that excellent design offers to students and teachers.

Check out a few of these highly honored projects from LEARNING BY DESIGN's Fall 2011 Edition and the inventive firms that created them.

LEARNING BY DESIGN judges commended NAC|Architecture for promoting sustainability and learning throughout Ardmore Elementary School, Bellevue, Washington, one of three Grand Award winning projects in the Fall 2011 LEARNING BY DESIGN competition. The energy-efficient facility features a heat-pump system and extensive use of daylighting. “One LEARNING BY DESIGN criterion was sustainability that supports learning,” the judges said, “and this school nails that.” Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.

EwingCole successfully integrated Zankel Music Center into Skidmore College’s Saratoga Springs campus, complementing existing buildings by providing the fourth side of a quadrangle and creating an amphitheater in the center. A wide glass atrium at the center of the building divides performance areas from instructional spaces and provides passersby with a brightly lit window onto the music inside. Judges recognized the project with a Grand Award. Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.

Nex+Gen Academy, Albuquerque, New Mexico, another Grand Award winner, features “fun, friendly, and flexible” design, according to LEARNING BY DESIGN judges. Dekker/Perich/Sabatini the school’s focus on project-based, cooperative, high-tech learning and created an array of collaborative spaces, from small breakout areas that accommodate six to eight students to a spacious lobby with café-style seating. Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.

Perkins+Will created a smart new addition to Druid Hills High School, Atlanta, Georgia, that unites a 1930s school with two adjacent buildings. The addition echoes the original school in its brick construction but introduces a soaring glass façade. The project was recognized with a Citation of Excellence Award. “This project has done something very complicated in terms of knitting these buildings together” and resolving the interior circulation, judges said. Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.

Hackley School’s Goodhue Memorial Hall, Tarrytown, New York, was originally built in 1903 and recently ravaged by fire. When restoring the building, Peter Gisolfi Associates honored the original architecture while bringing it forward into a very contemporary learning environment. Especially notable is the new library, with spectacular vault and group study spaces that provide acoustic privacy. The restored building was recognized by with a Citation of Excellence Award. Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.

Deer Park High School, Park, Washington, received a Citation of Excellence Award for renovations that both modernized and united the school’s formerly disjointed facilities. NAC|Architecture stitched together the various parts of the school, reorganizing the facility into an academic wing and a public wing. A welcoming outdoor courtyard in the center connects the indoors and outdoors. Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.

Innovative Designs Create Opportunities

The projects featured in LEARNING BY DESIGN raise the bar for educational design excellence, no matter what challenges they face. From a culinary academy that upgraded a utilitarian space into a teaching kitchen, bakery, and restaurant to a community school that found ways to fill a nearly-windowless industrial space with light, these award winning projects found creative ways around all possible barriers.

Learn about a few of the projects honored with Citation of Excellence Awards in the Spring 2011 edition of LEARNING BY DESIGN and the innovative firms that created them.

WLC Architects, Inc. renovated a formerly utilitarian space at Laney College Culinary Academy & Bistro, Oakland, California, into a modern, stimulating learning environment. The renovation project updated a culinary teaching kitchen, commercial kitchen, bakery, and the student-managed Laney Bistro restaurant. Judges praised the Bistro’s new interior, calling it “bold and playful,” with curvy walls and ceilings, an optional partition to accommodate multipurpose configurations, and restaurant-quality lighting and furniture. Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.

Insight Architects, PC transformed a nearly-windowless industrial space into a welcoming educational environment for the Community School of Davidson, Davidson, North Carolina. To overcome the building’s limitations, architects oriented the renovated building inward, creating a central atrium that runs the length of the building with a glass ceiling to let in plenty of light. The classrooms line the “learning street” on either side, allowing daylight to filter in through the classrooms’ wide doors and interior windows. Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.

Judges praised Earl Swensson Associates, Inc. the innovative design of McWhorter Hall―School of Pharmacy, School of Physical Therapy, & Department of Psychological Science at Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee. The architects adeptly preserved the historical roots of the building while creating light-filled, state-of-the-art classrooms and specialized laboratories inside. Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.

For White Cliffs Middle School, Kingman, Arizona, DLR Group asleek design that accommodates a variety of instruction methods and technology. The building offers view of nearby mountains and draws on the community’s roots as a stop on Route 66 for design inspiration―especially in the media center, which features slick curved surfaces, two-tone paint schemes, and shiny metal accents. Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.

At the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Building at Community College, Bettendorf, Iowa, Downing Architects designed an authentic culinary classroom for future food service professionals in a modest-sized space. Judges praised the attractive, well-proportioned massing of the facility’s brick-and-metal exterior. The interior includes instructional labs, hot cooking and baking labs, a hotel-style lobby lounge and bedroom suite, supportive utilities, and a multipurpose classroom space that can be opened up to seat 80 diners. Read more about this project in LEARNING BY DESIGN.