MCDS is thrilled to announce that our east side campus improvements have
received LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council
(USGBC).
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards for schools
address creating healthy spaces to support teaching and learning, with
particular attention to natural light, acoustics and air quality.
Our architects at EHDD underscore the importance of the partnership: “This
would not have been possible without the clear commitment of MCDS and all the
hard and dedicated work performed by everyone involved in the project."
Our east side campus improvements are among only a handful of net zero
energy building projects in the country, producing as much or more energy on
site as the buildings consume over the course of a year.
Research shows that many of the strategies used in the buildings make great
learning environments as the students are more focused, alert and less
fatigued.
As Scott Shell from EHDD states, “Architects get excited because they can
play at ideas, but it is the teachers who put these ideas into practice and use
the space as we intended… Transparency and connections between architectural
spaces are really about connections between people. It’s inspiring that
the school itself becomes a teaching tool.”
Throughout the project, teachers found creative ways to integrate the
construction process and green building features into their curriculum.
Student involvement continues as we share data on energy and water usage with
USGBC for the next five years to track performance against design.
Ultimately, the new buildings are both a physical manifestation of and an
ongoing inspiration for our commitment to creating ecologically literate
students and transformative new curriculum around educating for
sustainability.
And, as students and adults in the community will attest, they’re also some
pretty cool places to hang out and connect!
(Photo Credit: Richard Wheeler)
