Buildings

School buildings should assist with the school’s educational mission by providing good learning environments, serving as a learning tool and connecting to the community. Ideally they are sited, designed, constructed and operated to optimize student learning and health, as well as to optimize environmental, social and economic sustainability considerations.

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Buildings - General


BetterBricks

Site from Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, includes a variety of information for high performance school facilities.

“Building Healthy, High Performance Schools: A Review of Selected State and Local Initiatives”

2003 Report from the Environmental Law Institute

CalRecycle

State of California website for High Performance Schools

Cascadia Green Building Council

Organization provides training, events, programs and information

Center for Green Schools

Schools site from the US Green Building Council

Center for Innovative School Facilities

Organization website has various resources

Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS)

National program to facilitate the design of high performance schools.

“Greening America’s Schools: Costs and Benefits”

Report from Capital E by Gregory Kats

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

The LEED for Schools standard is one of a growing set of LEED standards for rating green buildings

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Green building for schools website covers multiple topics such as Energy, IAQ, Facilities, Education, Landscaping, Water Conservation, Daylighting, Integrated Pest Management and more

National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF)

Extensive resource lists for many aspects of sustainable school facilities including planning, design, IAQ, toxics,  resource conservation, operations, case studies, facility impact on learning, community use

Oregon Building Congress

Sustainable Building Initiative from OBC

Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center (PPRC)

Sustainable Design for Schools website

Whole Building Design Guide

Website of this program of the National Institute of Building Sciences


Case Studies


Oregon Department of Energy

High performance schools page, case study links on right side
Building Commissioning page, case study links on right side


Daylighting


Guide for Daylighting Schools

Online guide

Student Performance in Day lit Schools

Study analysing performance of students in daylit schools, by Innovative Design, Inc., Michael H. Nicklas and Gary B. Bailey 1996.

Daylighting in Schools; Heschong Mahone Studies

Daylight and productivity studies by Heschong Mahone Group


Existing and Historical Buildings


LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)

LEED standard for Existing Buildings (LEED EB)

The Greenest Building

Film discussing the significance of older buildings to sustainability, including schools,


Natural Disasters


Natural disasters and Oregon schools

Information and resources


Training Opportunities


Online Training: High Performance School Design

High performance school design online training program from New York.

US Green Building Council

E-Learning program