Green Planning: Environmentally Sensitive Design and Construction

Environments for Learning across the United States are facing a new question when planning and designing educational facilities: Why build Green? First of all, what is this concept of ‘Green Building’ that is buzzing throughout the architecture, construction, and facilities management industries?  Green Planning has become increasingly high profile in light of recent statistics released by the United States Green Building Council: the LEED™, or the “Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design.” These statistics show that American buildings cause a significant amount of stress on the environment. The Green Building Rating System serves as the nation’s standard for green buildings, and outlines the regulations which frame Green Buildings in all industries. To build ‘green’ is to design and construct a facility that takes into account the building’s impact on the natural environment.

According to recent statistics, buildings in the U.S. are responsible for:

• 36% of total energy use/65% of electricity consumption
• 30% of greenhouse gas emissions
• 30% of raw materials use
• 30% of waste output/136 million tons annually
• 12% of potable water consumption

As industries across the globe have been turning to more environmentally friendly techniques, advances in building science, technology and operations are increasingly available to designers and builders who aim to build facilities with the health of the environment in mind. Green Buildings enhance and protect ecosystems, improve air and water quality, reduce solid waste, and take considerable steps to conserve natural resources.

Green Buildings can also benefit a facility economically. Planning for an environmentally friendly building can reduce operating costs, improve employee productivity and satisfaction through the various health and community benefits provided by a green building. Improved air, thermal, and acoustic environments enhance user comfort and health while contributing to the overall quality of existence within the facility.

Innovative designs such as classroom sensors that adjust lighting levels based on the amount of natural light present, and windows designed to keep heat out in the summer and retain it in the winter adhere to Green Building principles. In some facilities, rainwater is captured on roofs and piped to underground storage tanks. The collected “gray” water is then treated and will be used for the school's toilet flushing and outdoor irrigation needs.

Green Building is also a way for institutions of higher learning to creatively integrate architecture and science into the learning process for students of conservation, chemistry, biology, engineering, architecture, and many other disciplines. Combining building and learning, some schools leave the building's technological features permanently visible (i.e. install Plexiglas wall sections; make photovoltaic cells and planted roofs accessible), which makes them available for continued lessons and demonstrations. In other facilities, displays of the methods by which schools are constructed are included for instruction and visual aids.

Recognizing that “there is an undeniable link between school conditions and student achievement” (Council of Educational Facility Planners International), the architecture of Environments for Learning now steps up to the plate to integrate learning into the built environment while simultaneously striving to build under environmental standards.

Environments for Learning are only one example of facilities that have embraced the Green Building trend, as Environments for Working, Healing, and Aging increasingly consider LEED standards.