High-Performance School Buildings Resource & Strategy Guide

Publisher: Sustainable Buildings Industry Council
Pub. Date: April 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0-9762073-9-9
Edition: Third
112pp

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Synopsis
This nationally vetted and easy-to-read guidebook describes the characteristics and benefits of high-performance school buildings and details the process to help school planners ask the right questions of their design professionals to ensure the best school design possible.  Written primarily for those who make decisions about the design and construction of K-12 schools, the 96-page Guide is useful for community leaders, parents, teachers, architects and engineers, and anyone else advocating for school buildings that are cost-effective, sustainable, and healthy and productive for students, teachers, and staff.

The book’s principal author is Deane Evans, FAIA, Director of the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Center for Architecture and Building Science Research. Mr. Evans is an accomplished architect with over 25 years of experience in architectural design, construction technology, and building performance research. He has served as an instructor for SBIC’s High-Performance School Buildings workshops and is currently serving as the Council’s Vice Chair.

The third edition features: 

• A new introduction to going Beyond Green^TM with high-performance schools
• A Beyond Green^TM Focus Area: Accessibility in K-12 Schools
• A  Beyond Green^TM Case Study: Radnor Middle School
• New Photographs, resources, and Web links

The book is organized into three core sections. Section 1 provides an overview and two interrelated discussions: What Is a High-Performance School Building? and Why Is a High-Performance School Building Valuable? Section 2 is the Process Guide, which provides issue-specific questions for decision makers to ask their architectural/engineering teams at each stage of the design process in order to drive projects toward the highest levels of performance. Section 3 describes 17 key “Building Blocks” that, when integrated, result in a high-performance building.

 

Contents
Foreword

Section 1 - Overview
Introduction
What Is a High-Performance School Building?
Why Is a High-Performance School Building Valuable?

Section 2 - Process Guide
Introduction
Site Analysis
Selecting the A/E Team
Programming and Goal Setting
Schematic Design
Design Development
Construction Documents
Bidding and Negotiation
Construction Administration

Section 3 - Building Blocks
Introduction
1. Acoustic Comfort
2. Commissioning
3. Daylighting
4. Durability
5. Energy Analysis Tools
6. Energy-Efficient Building Shell
7. Environmentally Preferable Materials and Products
8. Environmentally Responsive Site Planning
9. High-Performance HVAC (Heating/Ventilating/Air Conditioning)
10. High-Performance Electric Lighting
11. Life Cycle Cost Analysis
12. Renewable Energy 
13. Safety and Security
14. Superior Indoor Air Quality
15. Thermal Comfort
16. Visual Comfort
17. Water Efficiency

Section 4 - Case Studies
Foreword
1. Radnor Middle School, Wayne, Pennsylvania
2. Boscawen Elementary School, Boscawen, New Hampshire
3. North Syracuse Central School District, North Syracuse, New York
4. Clearview Elementary School, Hanover, Pennsylvania

Section 5 - Additional Resources
Beyond Green^TM Focus Area: Accessibility in K-12 Schools
Additional Web Resources

Published with Support for SBIC Members: BASF, the Polyisocyanurate Manufacturers Association, and the International Masonry Institute