David Caylor, Phil Von Hertsenberg, Jeff Webber, Matt Merchant

Physics Project - 3/20/2003

The principle goal of our school was to design a high school that would be energy efficient, aesthetically pleasing, well organized and designed, and comfortable for teachers and students. Our school was designed to enable the student, staff, and visitors to travel around easily and efficiently with less traffic than with normal schools. The school was placed so that the location would benefit the energy efficiency as well as provide for a comfortable atmosphere. We used materials in the construction to embrace the efficacy of the building and the surroundings making the most out of the environment.

The school was designed to ensure an organized, well flowing school. We wanted to produce a school that would enable easier transportation from class to class. The school we developed was based on a previous school located in Atlanta, GA that was recently built less than 10 years ago. The school made use of separate wings for the different grades and subjects to an extent. We took this idea and expanded it to create our school. In our school, we made separate wings for each subject. We placed the main subject sections so that they were closer to each other and the other sections of school such as the library to enable an easier change between classes. The louder portions of the school such as the gym, music section, and cafeteria are located farther from these areas of teaching and learning. The classrooms are designed so that when changing classes, the schedule permits a circular rotation to the next class, preferably the closest wing that the schedule allows. We allowed for extra room on the outer rim of the rotunda for an added ease of class exchange. The courtyard is also available between classes to provide for even more space. In the center of the rotunda and partly in the courtyard is the cafeteria, which contains seating outdoors in the courtyard. This enables the lunch-goers to enjoy the sun and good weather while using the least amount of energy to run the building as possible. However, there is inside seating in case of bad weather or the courtyard is closed located above the outer rim of the rotunda next to the Science and English wings. We have also provided for extra room in the hall in case the courtyard is closed to allow for the extra pressure as a result. The center of the courtyard will also be well landscaped and contains a fountain of water to please the eye as well as the architecture of the rest of the school.

The location of our school will permit the school to be the most energy efficient and lowest cost. It will be designed to make the most of the outdoor natural light and energy. We will use the courtyard to provide for an area completely energized by natural energy and we will also use natural lighting throughout the building. To do this, we must place the building so that the sun hits it at its most efficient point. The front of the building will have to face south, so that some of the light rises over the top and lights the entire school area but the bulk of the light shines on the southern façade of the school. This will light the front school building and classrooms facing the south. Our school will be located on the Florida panhandle south of Tallahassee. The climate of this area suits our needs well. Generally, the temperature ranges from 50 to 90 degrees around the year and only rains temporarily. The area is normally sunny and has a slight breeze that comes in from the ocean providing comfortably seeming temperatures although they might be higher than what is perceived. Since the temperature will generally be comfortable or slightly hot, the school will less be needed to be heated than have air conditioner. We will therefore be able to concentrate more energy to cooling the school than heating and using more energy efficient cooling devices that perform better in warmer environments all year round.

The importance of our building materials consist of all aspects of safety, energy efficiency, sound absorbency, cost-efficiency and aesthetically pleasing aspects, and we took all these factors into consideration when making our decisions. All our exterior walls and the majority of our interior walls will be built with fire proof six-inch concrete bricks. These bricks will be a good supporter for the school itself will absorb excess sound and are also safe. The bricks can be painted to be pleasing to the eye and are a natural looking surface for a wall. Our other interior between the double classrooms will have a movable wall. They will have a sound absorbing felt coating on top of the lightweight plastic doors. This will allow for maximum sound absorbency and for easy maneuverability of the walls. Our Interior doors will be wood with a see through glass spot in them as well. This will provide for law requirements and pleasing to the eye. Our exterior doors will be majority solid glass with a steel frame around it. These doors will give the building a nice open look but at the same time prevent disasters too. The materials used in construction are an important part to our school building.

Also important in construction of the building is how the roof is done. Our roof will be flat with sheet metal along with tar over the seams. The flat roof is less cost to us and is like the majority of schools and has easy access. Over the tar seams, will be rocks and gravel. This well cut down on the melting away of the tar and well allow for more energy efficiency, by cutting down on how hot the roof and the school get. The roof is very important in any building construction but especially our energy efficient school.

Energy Efficiency

In order to save money and energy a school needs to be energy efficient. There are many ways not only just to be energy efficient, but also to be resource efficient. A few ways that made our school energy efficient are tinted windows, heating/air conditioning with temperature controls in every room, fluorescent lighting with dimmer controls to control the amount of light that is put out and water saving devices.

How do tinted windows save energy? Wouldn’t you like to know? We asked the same question. We found that if you tint the windows it increases privacy and safety, reduces heat and interior fading, blocks 98% of UV rays, and absorbs up to 77% of solar energy. We will use the tinted windows in the classroom only and use natural lighting in the hallways. Natural lighting will cut down the expenses of electricity and give an environmental look to the school. Tinted windows are fast and easy to install and can come in many shades. For example, the shade we chose is 50, which means you can see half the light of what you could normally see with normal windows. This will save us numerous dollars on our energy bill. The tinted windows will reduce the amount of the light that enters the room, thus making it cooler in the room, which in turn makes the air conditioner not work as hard.

By having an air conditioner and heating system in every room it will not only make the lifestyle better for the students, but with having temperature controls with the system it will also be energy efficient. The system we chose is the evaporating air conditioning system, which cools the room by extracting humidity from the air. Evaporating air units are much cheaper to run than refrigerator air conditioning units. The air unit is energy efficient because of the controls in every classroom. Not every classroom needs to have the same temperature. This will save energy by not wasting energy in cooling the classrooms that don’t need to be cooled down. The same scenario applies for the heating system. For heating, we decided to use Geothermal Heat Pumps, which transfer heat between the building and the ground. Although they cost more to install, the advantages in the long run are worth it. The system runs at a much lower cost then any other typical heating system.

Our biggest way to save energy is through the use of fluorescent lighting. Fluorescent lights use only 25 % of the electricity that would typically be used by incandescent lights and lasts ten times longer than incandescent lights. By installing dimmers in every classroom with the fluorescent lights, we can control the amount of light that is put out in each classroom, thus saving money and electricity. The lights don’t get as hot because it doesn’t use heat to make light and this will make the air-conditioning unit not have to work as hard.

Conserving water saves the whales, is good for the environment, and helps us save money. We found that installing a circulation pump saves the most energy. When the pump senses that hot water has arrived at the sink it shuts off completely, and water and energy are both conserved. Rather than letting the water flow until it gets hot, the pump does the work of transferring the water from the heater to the faucet. This pump is easily installed and is super cool.

In conclusion, one can see that conserving energy and water are excellent ways to save money for our school. There are many different ways to conserve energy and water and after much research, we thought that water pumps, tinted windows, air conditioning/ heating units and fluorescent lighting were the most energy efficient. By being conservative, we not only saved money, but we were also not harmful to the environment. Conserving energy is the cool thing to do and every school system should do it!

Here are some images of our school layout (sorry for the low quality of the images, I had to take a picture of them and then scan it into my computer because the poster board was too big to be scanned):

This is the Rotunda and the other main areas of the school including the entrance and the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest Wings as well as a portion of the North Wing. The image is in negative so that it is easier to see.

This is a picture of the Gym, Locker Rooms, Weight Room, Auditorium, and Swimming Pool.

This image is of the fields located behind the school.

This is the Computer/Technology Floor.

This is the English Floor.

This is the Gym dimensions.

This is the general offices design.

This is the Science Floor.

This is the Social Studies Wing design and Math Wing design.

-Windows (tinted)

-Heating and air conditioning controls in all rooms

-Glass to see into each room from the door (safety / law)

-Fire alarm and intercom (law, safety, purposeful)

-4m ceiling height (unless otherwise needed different)

-Size 10.2m x 7.2m + 7.2m x 2.4m(preparation/storage room)

-Approximately 24 students per room

-6 rooms

-146 total students in the area

-Fume cupboards (hoods) provided in every room

-Size (14.4m x 9.6m)

-30 students per room

-6 rooms

-180 students in the area

-Suitable number of networked PCs

-Main wiring closet located in this area to accommodate its many needs for access

-Teacher offices and restrooms

-Student restrooms

-Storage

-Size (7.2m x 6.6m)

-30 students per room

-8 rooms (2 double)

-240 total students

-Teacher offices and restrooms

-Student restrooms

-Storage

-Size (7.2m x 6.6m)

-30 students per room

-8 rooms (2 double)

-240 total students

-Possible use for other subjects if needed

-Teacher offices and restrooms

-Student restrooms

-Storage

-Size (8.4m x 7.2m)

-30 students per room

-7 rooms (2 double)

-210 total students

-Restrooms

-Storage

-Size (7.8m x 7.2m)

-30 students

-7 rooms (2 double)

-210 total students

-Restrooms

-Storage

-Library

-Important to all subject easy access to all subject rooms

-Dual-purpose resource and teaching area

-Conference room

-Photocopy room

-Offices

-Counselors

-Nurse

-Teacher's lounge

-Cafeteria (in the center of the courtyard)

-Lockers (surrounding the outside of the rotunda)

-Entrance Offices and Reception

-Restrooms

-Cafeteria Seating (outdoor/courtyard and indoor-upstairs)

-Fountain

-Access to all areas of school

-Social area

-Easily navigated

-Band/Orchestra Room

-Drama/Chorus Room

-General Classroom

-Storage

-Auditorium

-Stage and Backstage

-Seats approximately 350 people

-2^nd floor above music area

-Men's and Women's Locker Room

-Bathrooms

-Lockers

-Showers

-All Sports

-Weight Room

-Gym

-Swimming Pool (basement underneath gym)

-Access to back parking lot and sports fields