Thomas L. Wells Public School is designed as a terrain for engagement with learning, society and the environment. The layout of classrooms grouped around courtyards, a central library, and multipurpose room, maximizes green space on the compact site and provides a transparent, stimulating place of growth for young learners as well as civic community for surrounding residents.
Conceived as a 'system of systems,' the building integrates architectural design with environmental performance. Classrooms are laid out to maximize solar exposure and their facades designed for daylighting effectiveness and sun control. Light shelves shade high summer sun and reflect low winter sun deep into the building. A combination of high and low window vents provides effective passive ventilation as an alternative to mechanical cooling and sensors turn off unneeded classroom lights. The pre-cast concrete floor and masonry structure provide thermal mass to harvest winter solar energy and retard summer heat buildup and are an integral part of the unique displacement air ventilation and radiant floor heating system. Heat in the return air stream is recovered in the central plant along with free heat from bathroom and service room exhaust. Durable materials used throughout promote long term sustainability as well as indoor air quality
This building was originally imported from the Canadian Green Building Council's http://www.cagbc.org/leed/leed_projects/ id: 10121) on 2009-06-09. Please confirm that the import was successful, login, and remove this message. Help make the Green Building Brain better.
