Assembling a sustainable project team a net zero case study

Assembling a sustainable project team

A NetZero case study

A J Sustaita, AIA Sustaita has over 20 years’ experience in architecture leading design, documentation, and construction administration on a wide variety of project types including renovation, new construction, historical preservation, and sustainable design. Additionally, Sustaita contributes to the profession of architecture by serving as the president-elect of the Houston chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Recently, he was honored with the Ben Brewer Award from AIAH, which recognizes excellence in ability and contributions to architecture in Houston.

Designed by the Corgan education studio, the new Fort Bend ISD Middle School #16, will become the largest net-zero school in the United States. Through solar and geothermal renewable energy solutions, the 240,657-square-foot building will produce as much energy as it consumes. The design of the building focuses on how best to serve the middle school’s future 1,600 students, through dedicated learning pods, instructional and collaborative pullout spaces, outdoor learning courtyards, and multipurpose labs to support the district’s STEM curriculum.

Above Front entry rendering of FBISD MS 16. Image courtesy of Corgan.

Paige Russell (PR): Was the goal of achieving net zero one that Fort Bend ISD had from the onset of the project?

A.J. Sustaita (AS): The FBISD school board has a member, Jim Rice, who is an MEP Engineer. He is very focused on sustainable design and responsible design for climate change. He’s been on the board for eight years now and has been really promoting LEED initiatives, especially before this current bond election. When our firm was hired, the goal was already established to deliver a netzero building. When we interviewed, having heard of this goal, we really showcased our firm’s previous net-zero project, Lady Bird Johnson Middle School [in Irving ISD], to show our experience. PR: Are there any specific certifications the district is wanting to achieve?

AS: We’re going for LEED Gold as well as the LEED Net Zero certification. There are a few different levels of net zero you aim towards. We’re designing for net-zero site energy, which means that the building will produce at least as much energy as it uses in a year.

Above Aerial view of FBISD MS 16 showcasing the solar-energy solutions. Image courtesy of Corgan.

PR: What are the challenges of a project with such high sustainability goals, such as net zero, that you’ve experienced with this project?

AS: In the Houston area, there aren’t many buildings in the greater metro area that have achieved net zero, which means there is no precedent for us to go and tour with the client. Also, we originally proposed to use Insulated Concrete Form on this project. The big challenge is that ICF is common in the Dallas Fort-Worth area here in Texas, but not at all common in Houston, which means there isn’t a subcontractor market in Houston to perform the work. If we elected to do the ICF construction, we would have to hire crews from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In today’s market climate, we’re all concerned with escalation, cost increases, and schedule delays. The project team therefore chose to go with a different envelope assembly, the same used at Lady Bird Johnson, an insulated infill CMU assembly.

PR: On the opposite side, are there any pleasant surprises you’ve had?

AS: Yes! The accelerated technology of solar has really been a surprise throughout the process. Through design, the engineers have been able to reduce the footprint of solar panels on the roof from 85,000 square feet down to 60,000 square feet. Even better, they’re telling us, by bid time, we’ll be able to see an even larger reduction in area needed because we’re seeing an increase in efficiency so quickly.

PR: Is this new technology more expensive?

AS: No, we’re continually seeing the prices decrease. It doesn’t make them more expensive, just more efficient and economical. We’re only seeing upsides in solar.

PR: From what we’ve talked about so far, it’s apparent that MEP engineering is very important when it comes to net-zero buildings. How did you prioritize choosing which consultants to work with for this project?

AS: As you can imagine, the net-zero design piece is very specialized. In the Houston area/Gulf Coast, the water table is higher, and to utilize geothermal, we needed an engineer that’s done this in coastal regions before. We have a partner in Dallas, IEG, that worked on Lady Bird Johnson with us. So when it came time for another net-zero design, we turned to them to see what they’d been up to. Since we worked with them last, they had done geothermal facilities in other coastal regions similar to our own in terms of soil conditions. They have a lot of expertise in solar design, as well, and proved to be the right choice for this project. IEG has been working alongside us since the original kickoff meetings to guide us through some of the more technical items that maybe we aren’t as familiar with.

PR: Having done Lady Bird Johnson, IEG’s experience with schools seems important, as well.

AS: It was! It allows us to deliver an economic building that functions very well in terms of maintenance and operations. All those things were factored when we chose IEG. Do they know K-12 sector design? Do they have experience in renewables? We checked the boxes on all of those, and it’s worked out really great.

PR: Did you have any specialized consultants you may not normally have on a project?

AS: While IEG was our design engineer, we hired another engineer, EMA, to do the energy modeling. So, while we went through schematic design, design development, and so on, we were turning over our BIM model to EMA, and they would do these complex energy models and tell us if we were on track for achieving net zero, taking into consideration factors like the

Above The 60,000 square feet of solar panels helps create as much energy as the building consumes. Image courtesy of Corgan.

Above The project has over 600 geothermal wells, coupled with ground-source heat pumps, to aid in the heating and cooling of the building. Image courtesy of Corgan.

systems, our envelope, and our site orientation. We’ve been checking our designs against the energy models throughout the design process, and this was especially critical when we shifted from ICF to the grouted CMU.

PR: Doing these energy models, looking at the envelope and the water table, do you think the location of Houston has posed its own challenges on the project?

AS: To get to net zero, you obviously want to minimize the loads, but being in such a humid climate, there’s more of an outside air requirement. Some of the systems had to be upsized, where in drier climates, that wouldn’t be the case. Also, we must always stay conscious of flooding. After Hurricane Harvey, resilience is really a big part of how we design here in Houston. We had to be very conscious of maximizing open space, limiting impervious cover everywhere we could.

PR: When you’re staffing a sustainable project, is there anything you consider that you normally wouldn’t for one without these goals?

AS: On the architectural side, the envelope is really the most important thing. So, when we began putting the building together, it was important to have someone who was really well-versed in technical building sections, wall sections and assemblies. While it may be small differences from a typical project, those small differences make a huge impact in our energy models when it comes to sealing and flashing our building.

PR: Are there any skill sets that you believe young architects can bring to be integral members of a project team?

AS: The technical aspects of the building assemblies are important, but honestly just bringing the enthusiasm for sustainability and the ability to suggest creative solutions is vital. When we had to move away from ICF, it wasn’t logical what to do instead. We ran through plenty of iterations, and those came from young architects that had researched and were passionate about sustainability, bringing innovative ideas to the table.

PR: How should young architects express their interest in sustainability, or wanting to work on specific projects, to their managers?

AS: I think at a firm like Corgan, it’s easy because we have initiatives in place, such as being aligned with the 2030 Challenge. If you’re in an environment where the young professionals know that there are larger goals the firm is pursuing, then I would recommend just having a brief career conversation or touch base to express that sustainability is a passion and something you’re interested in working on; that way, when these opportunities arrive, it is known who is going to be enthusiastic about delivering the building. The reason I think this is so important is because I’ve been posed with a lot of questions of how we’re going to do this, because we don’t have a lot of precedent in town, and I think having a team where people are not focused on the problems but focused on finding solutions is very critical. This disposition is a huge boost to a team when tasked with a project that has unique design challenges.

PR: With this project being a school, how do you hope this project’s sustainability goals inspire the future students at this middle school?

Above Internal rendering of FBISD MS 16 sixth-grade classroom pod featuring collaboration zones, multipurpose classroom, and vertical circulation up to CTE. Image courtesy of Corgan.

Above Internal rendering of FBISD MS 16 main corridor, looking at the maker space, library, and vertical circulation up to the eighth-grade classroom pod. Image courtesy of Corgan.

AS: We want this school to be a teaching tool. I hope the lesson it teaches these kids is that the future of energy production comes from renewables and not fossil fuels. As these students start in sixth grade and move through, it will become obvious to them that how we run our homes and schools is through systems such as solar and geothermal. We hope this helps set a new generation in place that will battle the effects of climate change. As architects, what we do has a major impact on our world. It is incumbent on us as architects and engineers to take up this responsibility and answer the call to action. When we build schools, we want to set a precedent and example for future generations. It needs to be expected in the future, and not unusual as it once was when we kicked off design.

Paige Russell, AIA

Russell is an architect in the education studio at Corgan in Dallas. She serves on the AIA Dallas Emerging Professionals Committee and in her local A4LE chapter.