IslandWood: A School in the Woods

Narratives

Architect Narrative

Client Mission:

· To create a “magical” residential education campus for fourth and fifth graders incorporating ecology, technology, and the arts.

Program and Site:

· A 70,000 sf residential education facility located on 255-acres on Bainbridge Island, Washington. The center provides young people with a deeper understanding of the natural environment through hands-on projects and outdoor field experiences.

Fourth and fifth grade students spend four days on the wooded campus, which comprises a nearly complete watershed and numerous site features including a bog, pond, cattail marsh, ravine, and multiple generations of logged forest. Shelters, bird blinds, and other outdoor learning facilities are featured throughout the site and are connected by a series of pedestrian trails.

Design Intent:

· Protect the site and greater environment through environmentally intelligent design

· Explore the potential of buildings as interactive educational tools

· Foster a connection to nature for 4000 annual fourth and fifth grade visitors

· Research and challenge the status quo for education, design, and construction

Design:

· Design charrettes with elementary school students provided insight into creating safe and fun, and engaging educational environments

· Vehicular-free campus - natural entry trails provide pedestrian “decompression zone” for all visitors

· Buildings placed at northern edge of “solar meadows” allowing for passive and active solar systems — wood cleared from solar meadows used for siding and trim

· “Butterfly roofs” invite passive solar gain from south, active systems on north, and views into forest beyond

· No air-conditioning — windows open, buildings breathe, energy saved

· Building structures and systems uncovered — materials saved while making connections clear to kids

· Materials, texture and connections evoke layering and interdependence of natural systems

· Siding, trim, furniture, and fixtures crafted by local artisans from site harvested materials

· The largest photovoltaic array in the northwest powers 50% of the Learning Studios classroom building

· Geological fireplaces, artist made building parts, and building energy metering provide hands-on interactive learning for students of all ages

· United States Green Building Council LEED™ Gold rating in 2002

Educator Narrative

Clancy J. Wolf, Ed.D., Technology Coordinator

Our school is an outdoor learning center that hosts classes of 9-12 year-old children who stay onsite for four-day programs. Our mission is “To inspire environmental and community stewardship by providing hands-on learning experiences that link science, technology, and the arts in a natural setting.” Our facilities complement this mission in many ways.

The buildings are not only places to teach, but are actually teaching elements themselves. A major goal is to teach about sustainability, and the design of our buildings makes it very easy to show what this means in design and construction. On a basic level, we discuss product and material choices and explain why they were chosen. For example, each classroom has a different sustainable floor covering and fixtures-bamboo, cork, recycled tires and high fly-ash content cement. High efficiency light fixtures, and low- and no-water use toilets communicate our sustainable message to our visitors.

On a more abstract level, the operation and theory of many of the spaces allow us to have our visitors think more deeply about their lifestyle and impacts on the environment. For example, our buildings have a wider temperature “comfort zone.” This means that at times in the winter visitors are slightly cooler than in traditional buildings, and in the summer they are warmer. We use these experiences to discuss how wearing a sweater in the winter and shorts in the summer affect energy use through reduced building heating and cooling.

Another educational aspect of the facilities is the passive solar design and the use of natural daylight. Each building has a solar meadow on the south side that is cut into the woods. The solar meadows are an opportunity to explore seasonal cycles, growth rate of trees, and the cultural history of the site as an old tree farm. The trees removed for the building footprints and solar meadows were milled and used in the buildings.

The second part of our mission involves developing “community.” We wanted our school to be “kid friendly”. The architect suggested that we involve children in the design process. Many of the suggestions that surfaced in design charrettes with the children have had a significant impact on the children’s sense of belonging, and comfort that we care about them. Little details from child height windows on solid doors, and personal reading lights and windows by each bed, to nooks and crannies designed for groups of 8-10 kids and an instructor make this a very child friendly place.