Ten Measures of Sustainability throughout Fairmount School

 

The Fairmount School endured a tactical design process to integrate its design with the desert climate of Riverside. The design provides exceptional comfort of 81% occupied hours with a minimal amount of energy demand by utilizing sustainable and natural methods. First, the program and site are understood to accommodate an optimized response through massing and orientation. Then, the passive strategies for natural heating and cooling and strategic envelope decisions are addressed. Next, active systems and renewable energy are tackled to provide a net positive building. This effective, efficient process eliminates fatal, early decisions from hindering the design’s progress.

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The school lies in Downtown Riverside, California a significant piece of the Inland Empire’s urban fabric. This location holds a populous and ethnically diverse region of Southern California with many monumental, historical landmarks within reach of the school. The strategic location of the school will enrich public access to these features through developed transportation infrastructure for walking, transit, and biking. These fundamental natural and urban areas serve educational purposes in the value and significance of local ecological and cultural features of Riverside that increase the equity of the city’s community.

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The Fairmount School buffers the boundary of the underdeveloped land of Fairmount Park and the highly developed land of Downtown Riverside both visually and acoustically. Its intermediary position protects the local ecosystems in the park and expands the native plant species onto the site. 83% of the site incorporates vegetable gardens, learning gardens, outdoor classrooms, and verdant spaces. These adopt the local flora of Fairmount Park which reduces water usage through xeriscaping due to their natural adaptation to the land. The envelope’s polycarbonate layer and horizontal solar shading ensure awareness of depth which limits local birds’ harmful approaches to the building.

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With Riverside’s low precipitation, 100% of the water is retained on-site through permeable paving, green roofs, and vegetative areas. The extensive green roof also provides irrigation for AC condensate and graywater. This prevents requirements of water runoff offsite. Reduction of water usage arises through xeriscaping and low-flow plumbing fixtures. California’s Water Efficiency Standards provide a highly beneficial regulation of water usage, decreasing consumption by 25%. The urinals are no-flush urinals, requiring zero water flush supply lines or flush valves. The faucets do not exceed a flow rate of 0.5 gpm, and lavatories hold a gpf of 1.28.

 

With the economic conditions of California, the average cost of a public elementary school is $450/sqft. However, several design decisions limit significant costs through program reduction, maximization of outdoor space, modularity, and construction materiality. The performance space and fitness center collaborate to accommodate larger occupancy while reducing square footage. The school efficiently utilizes outdoor space for circulation and learning spaces eliminating construction costs. The learning communities are modular, decreasing the financial demands in variant product replacement. Lastly, the usage of heavy timber construction guarantees a cut in construction costs and provides natural acoustics which dramatically decreases costs for baffles.

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With each step of the stringent design process, energy demands decrease. The baseline energy demand begins with an annual electricity request of 527,981 kWh/year with an EUI of 22. The intentional, effective process influences the baseline model drastically through program reduction, site considerations, passive strategies, envelope composure, and active strategies. The energy consumption is finally reduced to 205,657 kWh/year with an EUI of 15. With a photovoltaic system over the parking structure producing a renewable energy supply of 335, 195 kWh/year, the building produces a net positive supply of 129, 538 kWh/year.

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For the school, many strategies are integrated to ensure the well-being of users. For daylighting, the learning communities are mostly well-lit permeating the space through central atriums and exterior glazing. These glass facades also provide vantage points of the park and the sky. This generates heavy indoor, outdoor connectivity which enhances students’ overall wellbeing and cognitive abilities. The indoor, outdoor relationship and use of no-VOC material on the interior improves indoor air quality. Finally, the architecture itself optimizes learning and education by crafting a subconscious or conscious lesson into each facet.

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Among many, the primary sustainable resource of the school is its heavy timber construction (HT). HT reduces the carbon footprint by half in comparison to concrete construction and nearly a quarter in comparison to steel construction. It is much more efficient than typical structural options requiring less construction workers and traffic demands, reducing overall weight, and utilizing prefabrication of CLT. Furthermore, studies have even correlated health benefits to HT construction as well as safety advantages. It absorbs heat and decelerates the combustion process while retaining its support loading when charred. Lastly, HT offers a natural, warm atmosphere that welcomes its surroundings.

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Fairmount School accommodates change through flexibility within the learning communities. These do not adhere to a factory-based classroom organization but rather adopt flexibility of multiple configurations at the school’s discretion. In addition, with modularity in the learning communities, a population change in the future is welcomed. With two learning studios in each learning community and a widely shared collaboration and maker space, these spaces could be distributed to other grades if needed. If a community emergency occurred, the high-quality, public building’s central courtyard and outdoor circulation provide an alternative for community resilience with shelter and aid distribution.

 

The exploration of the Fairmount School of Art and Ecology furthered my personal knowledge primarily of sustainability. I was pleasantly surprised by the extensive variation in natural tactics to improve our environment. It is the primary concern of our shattering, polluted earth. With practical, feasible strategies of design, architects can innovate and create architecture that intrigues and heals. Fairmount School’s innovation of the third teacher concept enables students to discover and enjoy a subconscious, educational experience through architectural treatment layered in every detail, from the floors of the learning communities to the trees of the site.