Q&A Nov/Dec 2007 with Robbie Ferris – Sustainable Design Takes Flight
Ferris
School districts everywhere are looking for ways to lower the bottom line and to reduce the ecological footprint of their buildings. Starting this November, school systems throughout the United States will have access to a design prototype that will follow LEED platinum standards and even allow schools to generate their own energy.
Robbie Ferris, president and CEO of Raleigh, N.C.-based SFL+a Architects and FirstFloor K-12 Solutions LLC, talks about a new design prototype that may change the face of school construction. Dragonfly, an environmentally friendly design prototype, combines sustainable design elements and energy- and water-saving features with the capability to generate energy. Ferris spoke with School Construction News about the importance of life cycle costs versus first costs, and the future of sustainable building during a phone interview.
Q: Why is there a need for a prototype like Dragonfly in the K-12 school market right now?
A: Dragonfly is a very high-performance building. There’s a need for high-performance buildings across the country. Dragonfly will actually generate more electricity than it uses. We need prototypes like Dragonfly because the cost of energy is rising and will continue to rise at an exponential rate. We have to change the way we design, finance and build buildings if we’re going to create a sustainable society.
Q: What are some of Dragonfly’s green and energy-generating features?
A: There is a very high-performance envelope, which means the roof and the walls are well-insulated and they don’t leak air. There are also high-performance windows and high-performance glass and glazing.
We will be using geothermal mechanical systems, which I think is pretty widely accepted as the most efficient mechanical system that you can put in a building. There is a first cost to that, which means it costs more money to install it, but it makes for a very efficient building.
We will be daylighting the buildings, which will save significantly on the electricity bills. When we talk about high-performance buildings, it’s not just about designing and building a facility that saves money, but also improving the educational environment. If we can’t enhance student learning, we haven’t built a high-performance building.
The prototype will include the most advanced lighting and controls available. Depending on where we build the buildings, we will install either photovoltaic panels on the roof or windmills or some sort of energy generating feature. Some things work better in certain parts of the state than others. Having energy-generating components is a very important part of the overall business model.
Beyond that, we’re looking at control systems to monitor energy consumption. We’re also looking to lower maintenance costs by using materials that require less maintenance. Flooring is one of the materials that generally requires a lot of maintenance, so we’re using terrazzo floors in the buildings. We’ll be installing a roof that should last at least 40 years, but we hope it will last 60 years.
Q: Does the Dragonfly model encourage using recycled materials and locally and sustainably harvested materials during construction?
A: Yes. Actually our goal is LEED platinum. To achieve that level of certification, we will need to use locally harvested and manufactured materials to a very high degree. It’s very challenging to get LEED platinum. There are some components that we’re struggling with, such as rainwater collection and reuse. That’s a very expensive system to install and the payback is not good.
We’re trying to decide whether to install systems that do not really have a good payback, knowing that water is a pretty significant problem in most parts of the country and is something we need to make people aware of. So installing those systems in the building even though the payback may not make sense, might be a good way to influence change.
Q: Are you going to provide some sort of commissioning process to ensure the schools are in fact achieving LEED platinum?
A: Yes. There will be a very extensive commissioning process, which will begin during design. In our case, we will monitor the performance of the building over a very long period of time. As one of the options we’ve made available to school districts that hire us to provide them with Dragonfly, we will be responsible for the energy consumption of the building and the maintenance and all of the operating components. If the school district hires us to do that, we will monitor the energy consumption of the building for as long as 20 years, and even longer if they choose. That’s the most ideal scenario, because we can use that information to improve the design.
Q: How did the collaboration between SFL+a and Firstfloor work?
A: The two companies worked hand-in-hand over about two and a half to three years to develop the business model, and then we were successful in securing a predevelopment agreement with Cumberland County schools to do a project. Once we secured that agreement, we started work on the design of the actual prototype. The two companies also worked to move legislation forward that was necessary to use Dragonfly in schools.
Q: What kind of legislation has been passed recently that allows you to create the prototype and use it in schools?
A: The dilemma with K-12 school construction — not only in North Carolina but also across the country — is that we are typically given a fixed budget. We have to design a building within that budget, regardless of the operating costs of the building. What the North Carolina Legislature did was pass legislation that would allow school systems to lease schools from developers. Once that legislation was in place, suddenly we were able to make design decisions based on life cycle costs, as opposed to a decision that was often based on getting the building within budget, which generally meant that we were not able to put very high-performing systems into our buildings.
North Carolina has been very progressive in developing this piece of legislation to allow school systems to lease buildings. It has really freed our hands and given us a tool to design these high-performance buildings. Dragonfly is the first of the schools that will be built under this new legislation.
Q: How would a district use Dragonfly? Would they still select an architectural firm to oversee the design process?
A: If somebody wanted to use Dragonfly or build it, they would have to go through our development company, which has a contract with SFL+a. We would develop, design and oversee construction of the building. A district could bring their own financing to the table, but we feel the need to control the process through construction very tightly, because the quality of the building and the performance of the building will be determined by the design and the quality of construction. In order for the performance to be assured, we need to control the process through construction.
Q: Does SFL+a play a role in choosing a general contractor or construction manager?
A: Yes. We would need to do that. Dragonfly will be available to school systems across the country. We’re based in North Carolina , so we’re very familiar with the North Carolina contractors. If we were to build Dragonfly in other markets, we would have to go through a qualifications-based selection process for the general contractor and the major subcontractors.
Q: The prototype is being marketed specifically as a sustainable design. Why was it important to SFL+a to offer an environmentally friendly design?
A: The cost of energy in this country is going up and will continue to rise dramatically. The average elementary school in North Carolina , based on state utility rates, uses about 1.1-1.3 million kW hours a year. In 40 years, the power bill on that average 100,000-square-foot elementary school will be $600,000 a year. The power bill for that same building today is probably in the range of $0.80 to $0.90 per square foot, so it’s somewhere around $80,000 to $90,000 a year.
With Dragonfly, that same building in 40 years will not have a power bill and will earn $300,000 a year in profit.
When you think about where we’re going as a society, we’re really going to be struggling to pay the power bills for our schools unless we change something.
Q: How flexible will Dragonfly be on a school-by-school basis? Will it be adaptable to the design and program needs of individual projects?
A: Yes. We have a pretty good handle on the market and we’re very involved with organizations such as the Council of Educational Facility Planners, International, where we study trends and look at where education is going. We try to anticipate the different programmatic needs that may be out there.
To the extent that we haven’t anticipated something that someone might want, we can modify Dragonfly to meet those needs. It will be very flexible and our goal is to meet the needs of everyone who wants it. If we’re hired by a school system and they want a very different design and they want the building to look very different from the prototype, we could redesign a new building using the systems we’ve incorporated into Dragonfly.
Q: How will Dragonfly enhance the learning environment?
A: There is a lot of research out there about what makes a good classroom. A few of the things that are pretty easy to quantify that we are often unable to incorporate into classrooms because of costs, are daylighting, acoustics and technology. Those are three things we focus very heavily on in the classroom.
Learning spaces will be day lit, have sound reinforcement systems and state-of-the-art technology, such as SMART boards and projection equipment. The teacher will be tied into the sound reinforcement system, which is tied into the school communication system.
Moving from the classroom to the outside, particularly at the pre-K through first-grade level, the connection to the outdoors is very important. The building will be designed to inform children about sustainability. For example, the structure of the building will include glue-laminated wood beams that hold up the roof and will be visible to students.