MATERIAL STRATEGIES Extremely local materials were of use in this project to provide both sustainable solutions and learning opportunities for the youth of the area. The material strategies utilized involved up-cycling existing site resources and replenishing the lands for future growth, making the whole site adaptable past the lifespan of a typical building. Land stewardship and educational opportunities are additional benefits to this plan. BLACK WALNUT (JUGLANS NIGRA) The site offers existing Black Walnut as a source for timber. As an allelopathic first successional plant, using this tree for timber framing allows for other successional plants to have a chance to reseed the once Pine Barrens and Oak/Hickory Forests that claimed this site as their own. Similar to our site conditions, Black Walnut grows best on lower sloping areas of limestone parent material. It is possible to produce 16” saw logs in 30-35 years. Black Walnut can add 4” of diameter every 10-12 years on deep, well-drained soils. RAMMED EARTH
1
2
Revealing the layers of earth as structural load bearing walls. Soil, mixed with 5% cement and recycled crushed brick, provides superior strength, sustainable qualities, and acts as a thermal mass by absorbing high amounts of solar energy, which is released into the building when it cools down, keeping a stable interior temperature.
3
4
LIMESTONE
6
The naturally occurring limestone bedrock peaking through the site’s ground plane as outcroppings inspired this material choice. With a neglected limestone quarry on site, limestone from the site and region is readily available, and the reuse of the quarry for play and learning about the land’s resources and geology was incorporated in the design.
5
QUARRY’S MAKER SPACE ALONG THE EXCAVATION CONTEXTUAL LINE
SITE AREA:
INTEGRATED LEARNING STRATA
SITE LOCATION:
BUILDING AREA:
28.83 acres
PROGRAM:
Borough of State College, Pennsylvania
+ 75,000 sq ft Elementary School + Community resources
ECOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE + ECOLOGICAL LITERACY tulip poplar and beech
OVERVIEW
birch groves various spp.
While time passes, and buildings age, the landscape’s cyclical ecological processes allows for evolution and regeneration. These processes are matched in the material selection, construction, program adjacencies, and overall concept by providing a design that is an integral part of the working ecological systems for the benefit of both the environment and the present and future users.
oak and hickory crab apple
Through revealing site and regional ecological processes, this design promotes environmental literacy at multiple scales. The strata that form the entire site and the building fabric are deliberately called out, chosen, and interwoven to allow for a harmonious connection between ecology, education, and community.
85% percent of building that can be daylit during occupied hours
proposed dry meadow parking and bus drop-off
85% percent of building
that can be daylit existing paths
community bike path
<
2”
4-8” dia.
biota
avg.
organic matter
2.5-3”
5-6 yr. old
2 yr.
43.85”
terraced wetlands
contextual line:
1 . excavation 2 . production 3 . water
maker space
quarry
8-12” dia.
10 yr.
12-16” dia.
7-8 yr. old
30 yrs
49.25”
sinkhole 16-20” dia.
5.2”
9-10 yr. old
Hagerstown Opequon Nolin
54”
20-24” dia. 50 yrs
drain 100 yr.
overlook
3
sinkhole
hydro/geo forum
2
summer
composting bin
orchard
berries broccoli eggplant peppers squash
well slide + sled hill
apples carrots cauliflower pumpkins pears
earth wall play
70”
tree/forest growtH
user growth
EVENTS
sports field
kale collards leeks radish brussel sprts
adult
storm water
terracing
proposed reforestation
produce collection
winter 5.8”
karst topography
1
2
asparagus peas rhubarb spinach
autumn
40 yrs
50 yr.
music forum
3
existing woodland
20 yrs
soil profile
94%
spring
10 yrs
3.8”
limestone
47%
bioretention check dams
1
bedrock
66%
ephemeral stream
The main users, elementary school students, grow with the site as they complete their education. Changes in scale were considered in the design functions. These students will experience first-hand the site’s productive, efficient, and resilient qualities and have a hand in the stewardship of the land.
sometimes caves can be formed from this process
percent of floor area with views to the outdoors
Somewhat Walkable
during occupied hours
CIRCULATION
The site’s limestone bedrock is the foundation for the site’s systems. It contributes to soil composition; karst topography, which creates topographical depressions and sinkholes through contact with stormwater; the vegetation and its growth abilities; built structures; and how users will interact with the site. The overall design solution uses immediately local materials, such as the site’s soil, limestone outcroppings, and available mature tree species, while also slowing down, harvesting, and dispersing stormwater throughout the site to avoid sinkholes.
subsoil
80%
proposed paths
To allow for longevity, resilience, and future adaptability, the design attempts to understand and integrate the site’s evolving elements of soil, karst topography, stormwater, tree/forest growth, user growth, and crop seasonality. These evolving measures consider both the cyclical and linear qualities of time to allow for future re-evaluations of use and growth.
Hagerstown Opequon Nolin
Light & A
proposed lawn
LONG LIFE, LOOSE FIT
true soil
percent of floor area with views to the outdoors
PROPOSED PLANTING
Where these lines intersect, the three nodes of the project stand (creatology, philology, and foodology). The structure of these nodes celebrate the its use of timber through expressive system which emulates the form of trees. Leaving the central collecting space between the nodes, which gracefully gathers people, water and light throughout the day.
depression
80%
black locust
some transit
The excavation line connects the existing quarry and spring fed well through programs of art/making/doing (creatology) and library of knowledge (philology). The production line aligns with historic agriculture crop boundary to link the community and users with the food production process: pollinator garden, on-site composting, orchard and edible gardens, and the teaching kitchen and mess hall (foodology). And finally, the water line illustrates the relationship between the ephemeral stream fueled through stormwater and the erroding limestone sinkhole, while celebrating the use and reuse of water through a stream access, wetland learning, aquatic play, and hydroponics lab.
malus orchard
biker’s paradise
The site’s functions have shifted over the last couple of centuries, from Pine Barrens and Hickory/Oak Forests, to agricultural lands, to an elementary school and a small quarry, to today’s need for a new educational facility. Through the ever-present evolution of community needs and materiality, the design highlights the historic changes of the site by utilizing local and site-specific resources to construct an educational facility that mimics an ecologically mindful pedagogy for the students and the surrounding community. Contextual lines that trace the historic uses and cycles of construction, production, and hydrology guide the programs and systems within the design.
Light & AI
reading pits
crop seasonality
exploded site Axon
central collecting space for stormwater runoff, light, and users
WATER CYCLE
100% of the stormwater runoff is managed on-site for a 24/ hr 2yr event through 42,500 cf of storage, as well as the implementation of bioretention zones. The harvested water is stored in both below and above ground cisterns. The design’s water cycle becomes a learning tool for the users. The central space of the building exemplifies this by not only being the main gathering space for the users, but also acting as a collection zone for the water from the adjacent roofs of the nodes and filters it through a series of remediation beds before it reaches the cisterns.
pipe to stream
bioretention
SITE 24hr 2yr event
surface
28.83 acres 2.64 in/24hr.
runoff co.
area (sf)
Rain (ft) Storage (cf)
0.22 100% 42500
biorentention check-dams for existing spring
restored riparian buffer
Total Stormwater total runoff (cf) (cf) sf* rainfall sf*.5’ runoff co.
terraced dry meadow
p sto ipe t rm o e wa xis ter ting inf ers coun tru ty ctu re
Stormwater management is crucial due to the karst topography that has produced a sinkhole on the site. Systems of bioretention zones, terracing, green roofs, and rainwater harvesting have all been employed and celebrated through the integration of education and active management of the land as part of the proposed water cycle.
well
Roof Asphalt Grass/Field Pavers Meadow Green Roof Orchard Wooded Area sub total
0.9 0.9 0.17 0.2 0.1 0.45 0.25 0.05
31,151 24,155 73,470 63,648.5 747,833 45,855 71,291 198,231 1255635
after storage
total percent managed onsite
6853.22 5314.1 16163.4 14002.6744 164523.26 10088.1 15684.02 43610.886 276239.6604
6167.898 4782.69 2747.778 2800.53488 16452.326 4539.645 3921.005 2180.5443
bioretention
aquatic play
geothermal well
quarry
underground water storage
open field
43592.42118
water collection
herb garden edible garden
1092.42118
cistern water storage
hydroponics underground water storage
100%
cistern water storage
w
rm
sto
site identified along the Spring Creek Watershed’s karst topography
bioretention
e
tur
uc o e t rstr pip infe r ate
geothermal well
terraced slope
irrigation for orchard
sink hole
ure
w
rm
sto
ct e to tru pip infers r ate
karst topography identified along the Spring Creek Watershed
SITE ECOLOGY + HYDROLOGY + GEOLOGY The site is situated in the ridge and valley province of the Appalachian Mountain Range. The geology of this region shares the narrative of the evolution over millennia that contribute to the existing limestone karst valley and watershed scale dendritic system of fresh springs that filter through to the Susquehanna and on to the Chesapeake Bay. Crossing through the site lies a underground ephemeral stream (resultant of the karst limestone bedrock) fed through a sinkhole at the lowest point of the site. The design explores the relationship of site specific understanding of geological and hydrological functions at local and regional scales through water harvesting, bioretention zones, and educational forums near the quarry, sinkhole, and ephemeral stream. With agricultural rich soils, the site crop production and reforestation plan prevent soil erosion, help stormwater immediately infiltrate the soil, slow down stormwater runoff, provide cyclical resources for the immediate users and future users of the site. The paths that connect the school to a community bike path and to the adjacent neighborhoods marry the remaining existing woodlands on the site and the proposed reforestation plan.
0
50’
100’
water diagram
contextual line: 1 . excavation 2 . production 3 . water
DROP-OFF
Skylight Louvers
TERRACED WETLAND
2
Photovoltaic Panels CLASSROOM
Gutters
CLASSROOM CLASSROOM
CLASSROOM
CLASSROOM
CLASSROOM
Joists (Pine)
3
COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS COLLABORATIVE WORSHOPS
1
ADMIN
1108 MEDIA STATIONS
AQUATIC PLAY OFFICE
1109
1108 CLASSROOM
LIBRARY CHECK-OUT
COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS
Atrium Louvers
CHANGING ROOMS
1110 DN
LOCKERS
DN
1106 SERVICES
DN
LIBRARY STACKS
1106
OFFICE
DN
DN
Green Roof
CLASSROOM
REC HALL
1105
COLLECTION SPACE 1107
1102 FORUM
1
OFFICE
DN
DN
1104 HERB GARDEN
MAKER-SPACE
MUSIC PIT
DN
CLASSROOM
1109
LIBRARY STACKS
Joists (Pine) 1104
CLASSROOM
NURSE
QUARRY LEARNING KITCHEN
1105
DN
KITCHEN
1107
LOCKERS
DN
STORAGE
CLASSROOM
SERVICES
MESS HALL
1104
HYDROPONICS
DN
TRASH/ RECYCLE
SERVICES
DN
Beams (Walnut)
ART WORKSHOPS
WET ART
CLASSROOM
OUTDOOR DINING
COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS
1104 CLASSROOM
Expressive Structural System (Black Walnut)
1102
COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOPS
RINSING STATION
3
CLASSROOM
Service Box
CLASSROOM
CLASSROOM
COMPOST
CLASSROOM
CLASSROOM
Rammed Earth
PRODUCE COLLECTING ZONE
Shading Screen (Black Locust)
2 ORCHARD
0
16’
32’
48’
floor plan exploded systems Axon school’s Estimated Enery use intensity vs on site PV generated energy
school’s estimated energy use intensity vs. on site PV generated energy
EUI 43
Cost
15,555$
Energy
461,540 kWh/yr
Roof area
6825 sf
ENERGY FLOWS + ENERGY FUTURE Due to the project’s locality, the building’s energy loads are heating dominate. A geothermal heating system was incorporated as a sustainable strategy. The design seeks to reduce its carbon footprint through capturing and harvesting water to heat the building through geothermal wells, while also tapping into the available solar power captured by a system of 2-axis tracking photovoltaic panels, placed on southern facing roofs, to generate energy for the building’s electricity and the heat pump of the geothermal heating system. The total area of these roofs is 6,825 sq ft. The PV panels generate, on average, 461,540 kWh/year, saving the user around $15.5k annually.
PV CAL: 461,540 kwh/yr x 3.412 kbtu/ kwh =1,574,774.48 kbtu / gross sf (77000 sf) =20.45 kbtu/gsf
47.5% Saving
Natural ventilation through operable windows and shading provides more ways for this project to reduce energy. Site-specific sourced Black Locust wooden louvers on the facades and skylights act as natural daylight filters.
kbtu/gsf
It is estimated that more than 30% of electricity consumed in schools is a result of plug loads. To reduce plug loads, energy efficient systems and appliances are utilized and the building users and maintainers must promote beneficial occupant behavior, such as powering down nightly and going through training before use of technologies.
LIMESTONE CLADDING
COLLECTING STATION
rinsing pool
WASHING STATION
FRESH CROPS STATION
Foodology (Kitchen & Dining Showcase Space)
building diagrammatic section along crops contextual
contextual CROPS WALL
BLACK LOCUST PANELING
OFFICE
CREATIVE GARDEN
SKYLIGHT/OPERABLE WINDOWS
WALNUT BEAMS
Creatology (Art & Music Showcase space)
CONTEXTUAL EXCAVATION WALL
WATER HARVESTING /GREEN ROOF
PINE PANELING
COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOP
CLASSROOM
0
4’
12’
28’
The school represents a model that promotes for moderate to high activity engaging both students and the community of State College with the different ecological settings on the site. Understanding the climatic condition of State College, the design responds sustainably through desk The rammed earth is considered a very ecological
BIOCLIMATIC DESIGN
psychometric chart 100%
80%
The school represents a model that promotes for moderate to high activity engaging both students and the community of State College with the different evolving time measures of the site. Understanding the climatic condition of State College, the school is able to function with a passive cooling system that uses cross ventilation via operable windows. These operable windows continually replenish the air vertically and horizontally. They also provide a source of daylighting that minimize the needs of lighting energy use during the occupied hours of the day. The design responds sustainably to the heating needs through the use of an underground geothermal heating system with a heat pump that is operated using the generated energy of the roof’s photovoltaic panels. Moreover, the building utilizes the site’s soil as a thermal mass through rammed earth structural walls and a green roofing system.
.028
.024 80
90.3%
DUE-POINT TEMPERATURE DEG F
.020
60
wet-bulb Temperature 50
.016
.012
.008
humidity ratio
70
LIGHT AND AIR
60%
Comfortable hours (7908 out of 8760 hrs)
WINTER (DEC SOLSTICE)
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Continual fresh air is ventilated into the space through operable windows. Daylighting is abundant and the main source of light for the building, as 85% of the building can be daylit during occupied hours through a skylighting system and strategically placed glazing that is accompanied with louver systems to reduce glare. With so the glazing system in place, the connection between landscape and built form is ever-present with constant views of and access to the outdoors.
110
85%
DRY-bulb Temperature
1.6%
percent of building that can be daylit during occupied hours
FILTER FABRIC
percent of floor area with views to the outdoors
MOISTURE RETENTION LAYER
AERATION LAYER
Heating (Geothermal)
WALNUT BEAM 16.25” X 5.75”
NATIVE SOIL
MASONRY COPING RAW CUT LIMESTONE
FLASHING 2-1/2” EXPOSED DRIP EDGE
wind protection of outdoor spaces
GRAVEL
passive solar direct gain
90%
57%
ROOT BARRIER
6.8%
internal heating gain
ALUMINUM FLASHING
VAPOR BARRIER
natural ventilation cooling
DRAINAGE LAYER (GUTTER @ 2’-0” O.C.)
Sun shading of windows
NATIVE PLANTS
Comfort
21.8%
METAL FLASHING DETAIL
0.7%
RIGID INSUL.
5.2%
PLYWOOD DECK
8.8%
80%
su 7:3 nrise 3a m
sunpath studies
.004
30
rise sun:41am 5
noon
10
20
SUMMER (JUNE SOLSTICE)
noon
20
10
su 8:4 nset 7pm
set sun 8 pm 4:4
Light & AIR
40 30
sunpath
sunpath
percent of floor area within 15ft. of an operable window
physical model for daylighting and shade study
Light & AIR 85%
80%
90%
PUDDLED EARTH TOP LIFT
3” RAMMED EARTH MIXED WITH 5% CEMENT
Somewhat Walkable
4” POLYISOCYANURATE INSULATION
percent of floor area with views to the outdoors
66%
some transit
percent of building that can be daylit during occupied hours
47%
percent of floor area within 15ft. of an operable window
Walkability Scores
RECESSED LED STRIP (LED UPLIGHTING)
biker’s paradise
HOT/COLD 3” PVC PIPES
RADIANT HEATING AND COOLING SEND/RETURN 3/8” PEX TUBING-RADIANT
biker’s paradise
some transit
94%
47%
94%
Somewhat Walkable
66%
6” CONCRETE SLAB ON FINISHED GRADE WITH LIMESTONE TILES RIGID CORE INSULATION 3” SAND FILL
HARDFILL GRAVEL (CRUSHED STONE) 4” PERFORATED PVC DRAINAGE
Frost Line
CONCRETE FOOTING
integration of natural systems in the philology node (Library): ventilation and daylighting RAMMED EARTH (5% CEMENT)
0
1.5’
4.5’
9’
COLLECTIVE WISDOM + FEEDBACK LOOPS
detailed wall section Rammed Earth displays the ecological relationship between the architecture and the surrounding environment in its ability to illustrate the timeline of its creation, emulating the earth’s soil strata, while also functioning as the main distributor of the designed hydrological geothermal radiant heating system that are dispersed through the ground floor.
After visiting several schools and meeting with different faculties, the team collaborated to create a project that thrives to tackle three major issues. One is providing both the kids and the community of State College with a school that operates as an environmental and ecological teaching tool. Second, understanding and providing a solution for the existing karst topography and water circulation on the site. Third, due to the program of a school typically being active only during the school year, access, connections, and scaling of spaces needed to be calibrated to provide for use by the community to help maintain and manage the landscape and the facilities. Thus, the process of learning equally incorporates both the interior and the exterior of the school. Collaboration with a team of an architect and a landscape architect was crucial in understanding and achieving the goals of this project. Engineering workshops, usage of multiple softwares, water and climatic consultants played very significant role in helping the team to provide a responsive design that reacts to the different issues of the project.
The green roof complements the walls intentions by absorbing 50% of the rainwater and directing the remaining runoff to the above and below ground cisterns for continued replenishment of the active water use on site and the geothermal wells. This system provides an intimate relationship between the existing and proposed systems, allowing for future expansion and longevity of the school’s operation and success.
OPEN PLAY
OPERABLE WINDOWS
0’
REFORESTATION
WATER WELL
BIKE PATH
FIELDS
READING GROVES
COLLABORATIVE WORKSHOP
CREATOLOGY (ART SHOWCASE)
MUSIC LAB
CREATIVE GARDEN
REC ROOM (SHOWCASE SPACE)
COLLABORATIVE SPACE/PHILOLOGY
QUARRY EXPLORATION
16’
32’
48’
TULIP POPLAR GROVE
site section along excavation contextual line