Thomas L. Wells Public School

Narratives

Architect Narrative

The 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.

The first of a new generation of high performance ‘green schools’ by the School Board, The School is intended to serve as a model demonstrating both sustainable design strategies and an overall environmental quality that is conducive to student achievement. The significance of this project for innovation in the educational sector is being widely recognized. Following a presentation of the project last year to various school boards and representatives of the provincial government at a symposium entitled ‘Schools of the Future’, the Ministry of Energy - Ontario Conservation Action Team awarded the School Board with a Leadership Award. The School Board received full funding from the Commercial Building Incentive Program (CBIP), a funding grant for energy use at least 40% below the requirements of the Model National Energy Code for Buildings (MNECB). As well, the School Board is expecting a silver ‘LEED’ certification rating and has just received an Award of Excellence in the Green Design Category by the Green Toronto Awards which is organized by the City of Toronto. The project will be featured in the June edition of Azure magazine, a highly recognized Canadian design magazine.

Educator comment

At [the school] the windows alone draw rave reviews from its teachers. Lights rarely need to be turned on, and working in natural light creates a positive learning environment where students are “more attentive and alert” in contrast to schools with fewer windows and less natural light, where by comparison students seem “more lethargic and unfocussed.” Even on the shortest, dullest winter days (noted as a time of year when concentration can drop) natural light is often all that is needed.

And the windows provide more than natural light: each classroom has its windows sited so that students and staff can feel “a connectedness to the outdoors.” The gym in particular is designed so that the windows create the excitement of being outdoors even in deep winter while students are actually running about inside in their shorts and T-shirts! In the Visual Arts room the large windows create conditions that are ideal for budding artists.

Teachers attribute greater alertness, better overall student behaviour, and higher morale in part to these special windows throughout the school, along with the excellent air quality.

While there does not seem to be much noticeable difference in absenteeism compared to other schools, teachers observe a greater general healthiness among students that also extends to staff, who also attest to higher energy levels.

Teachers praise the overall design of the school for the convenience of its layout and for its many special features. Classrooms look out on pleasing views of green spaces and surrounding homes. The pits in the primary classrooms make team teaching an attractive option. Kindergarten classes are using the enclosed courtyard outside the library as an outdoor learning environment now that the warmer weather is here.

The gym is a magnet. Students are drawn to performing on its large stage, and after school pick-up volleyball games between staff and students happen regularly. The library likewise attracts a lot of interest. The ingenuity of its design allows staff and students to “share the space in an unobtrusive manner.” When the notice announcing the formation of a book club went out, so many students joined that the librarian decided to create two separate clubs. In fact, the library is such a favourite student haunt that even those who have forgotten their books look forward to going there!

Is there any room for improvement in this marvellous facility? Of course. Teachers wish staff washrooms were more conveniently located. They would prefer that the gym’s ventilation system was quieter during school assemblies, and that the cloth divider in the gym would more effectively isolate noise levels when two classes are using the spaces for different purposes. Overall, there is a lot of excitement about a school that offers, in the words of one teacher, a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to build a learning community among staff and students that helps everyone reach their potential.

The last word goes to principal Ruth Jory: ‘It has been a wonderful experience opening this school, allowing us to demonstrate our commitment to ‘putting students first.’ The many positive staff members show their enthusiasm about working in such a bright and engaging environment, and have embraced the mandate of reducing energy consumption and recycling. Furniture purchase has been guided by the standards for environmental leadership, taking into consideration the material content, for example, wood products versus plastic. We look forward to collecting data that will provide supporting evidence linking the learning environment to student achievement.”