By Lindsey Coulter
The all-electric, zero-net energy Maplewood School in Menasha, Wis., won’t welcome its first students until the fall, but is already setting a new standard for sustainability. The school will not only include 160 geothermal wells and a 1.14-MW roof-mounted solar photovoltaic system but will also enhance occupant health and wellbeing with its state-of-the-art ventilation system, wealth of daylighting and connections to the surrounding natural environment.
The 223,430-square-foot facility will replace the community’s existing 1970s-era middle school, which was undersized and offered little flexibility for modern learning and instruction. In contrast, the new building is comfortably designed for a 1,000-student capacity. It also marks the second of a long-range, three-phase facility plan that consolidates grades 5-8 into one beautiful new building.
Eppstein Uhen Architects (EUA) served as the project’s designer and structural, plumbing and mechanical engineer, collaborating with construction manager and sustainability consultant Miron Construction Co. Inc. The team also included electrical engineer MSA and energy modeler and commissioning agent HGA. Eland Electric designed and installed the PV system, microgrid and battery back-up system.
New Learning Environments
In developing the project, Miron Construction and EUA worked closely with the district’s Vision Committee to evaluate multiple building and renovation scenarios. Together, the group decided to pursue new construction as the most practical and impactful solution for the district’s long-term space, flexibility and instructional needs.
Jackie Michaels, senior project manager with EUA, and several colleagues shadowed students in the existing school to understand how a new building could better meet their educational and environmental needs. The experience helped inform the new structure’s orientation to take better advantage of views to the nearby wetlands and further committed the EUA team to prioritizing open spaces and natural daylight.
The result is a dynamic and colorful new two-story structure with two wings that will form an exterior courtyard. The building’s broad, light-filled hallways and thoughtful use of the school’s signature Bluejay Blue hue throughout will create a home for students and educators for decades to come, without putting a strain on the environment or taxpayers.
“The building is fundamentally designed as two schools within one school building,” said Michaels. “There are separate office and administrative areas for the intermediate school and the middle school. Each school is then further broken down into smaller learning communities or neighborhoods.”
Each learning community has its own classrooms, lockers, restrooms, collaboration areas, student intervention and support areas, and staff resource areas as well as a flex café that serves as a cafeteria and multi- purpose space. Between the two separate schools is a two-story ‘central spine’ common area. Located off the spine are shared amenities such as the library, art and music rooms, Career and Technical Education areas, the gymnasium and the fitness center.
Meeting Sustainability Goals
Innovation also came into play in the construction process. Fitting all 2,747 solar photovoltaic panels onto the new building’s roof (while avoiding mechanical systems and vent stacks), maintaining the project schedule and working within a constrained footprint forced the team to get creative.
“The biggest challenge was building on the site of an active school and the logistics of working around the existing building,” said Ben Samolinski, project manager with Miron Construction.
“One of the longest items on the schedule is the drilling of the 160, 500-foot-deep geothermal wells, which took months,” added Steve Lenz, superintendent with Miron Construction. “For this project, a unique challenge was keeping a dry(ish) area for the well drillers to work whenever it rained.”
However, these challenges didn’t deter the project team or the Menasha Joint School District, which has become a leader in energy conservation. Over the past 10 years, the district’s commitment to sustainability has reduced its overall electrical load by more than one million kWh and 850 therms of natural gas—even as the district has added more than 80,000 square feet of facility space.
Maplewood School will exemplify this commitment. The project was awarded a $103,546 incentive from Focus on Energy and is anticipating receiving more than $3 million from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credit direct payment for the geothermal bore field and system, photovoltaic system, the 500-kW battery back-up system, microgrid and EV charging stations. While energy modeling anticipates that the project will consume 1.4 million kWh annually, the PV system will offset all energy consumption. This will save the district nearly $190,000 per year in utility bills (based on today’s energy prices) and millions over the life of the facility.
Interior Innovations
Sustainable values will also be reflected inside the building, which will offer hands-on environmental educational opportunities using the building itself as a teaching tool.
“For example, the geothermal mechanical room has glass walls so that the students can see the system working,” said Theresa Lehman, director of Sustainable Services for Miron Construction.
Interior material choices were also critical to ensuring an optimal learning environment. EUA, which joined the AIA 2030 Commitment, strives to reduce embodied and operational carbon to minimize greenhouse gas emissions during construction and throughout a building’s lifecycle. Additionally, in accordance with the AIA’s Materials Pledge, the firm selects products that prioritize health, social equality and environmental wellbeing. As such, the project utilizes multiple low- to zero-VOC materials, which do not trigger respiratory issues like asthma and allergies, while the air-handling system is designed to bring in more fresh air than is required by state code. The spacious design also incorporates non-flicker LED light fixtures to ensure even light levels, while special attention to daylighting and classroom acoustics creates a calming environment.
In developing Maplewood School, Miron and EUA also referenced benchmarking and standardized test scores from a previous joint school project and found that nearly every standardized test across every subject in every grade improved when intentional steps were taken to improve the indoor environment. Additionally, behavior improved, allergy and asthma medication administered by the school nurse declined by 75%, communicable diseases declined by 425% and absenteeism declined 15%.
“While we could not pinpoint the statistics to one particular thing, we believe these improvements are a result of the combination of natural daylight, classroom acoustics, increased indoor air quality, the lighting, the interior colors and the sit-stand furniture in addition to students and staff taking pride in their new school environment,” Lehman said.
Funding Sustainable Goals
The project team is well versed in delivering projects with high sustainability standards but understands that significant investments in green systems and design strategies can be intimidating at the outset.
Brian Adesso, Menasha Joint School District’s director of business services, encourages districts that are on the fence about sustainability projects to connect with other entities that have implemented similar technologies and getting facility management teams up to speed before committing to investments in energy- efficient equipment and renewable-energy technologies.
“Also, it’s imperative to understand your community (members) and their viewpoints,” Adesso said. “Being fiscally responsible is important to the taxpayers of Menasha, so we made sure we were being good fiscal stewards of taxpayer resources.”
Adesso also calls the project’s IRA funding “a game changer” when it comes to covering items that require upfront capital costs, such as the project’s geothermal bore field, EV charging stations, roof-mounted PV system, microgrid and battery storage system.
“When taking into account the IRA tax credit direct payment, the geothermal system was cost-neutral if not less expensive than a traditional code- compliant HVAC system,” Adesso said.
For the project team, the Maplewood School project is proof that a school can be healthy and high-performing as well as economically feasible.
“From a people perspective, the building occupants are healthier, happier and more productive,” added Lehman. “From an energy efficiency and renewable energy perspective, there are capital cost premiums, but there are also incentives available to reduce the capital costs, as well as impactful returns on the investments. It’s so important to look at lifecycle costs.”
Construction is expected to wrap up on the groundbreaking project in April before the new school welcomes its first students for the fall semester.
This article was originally published in the January/February edition of School Construction News.