2009 Exhibition of School
Planning and Architecture
Richardsville Elementary
Bowling Green, Kentucky
Project In Design
Elementary School
Sherman Carter Barnhart
Richardsville Elementary
Bowling Green, KY
Town Center
Community Environment:
Richardsville is a small, close knit
community with the elementary
school as its town center. A new
school is long past due.
The School’s teachers and
administrators were involved in
the planning process of the
facility, and have not only
supported the School District’s
goal of this school being the first
net zero energy school in the
United States, but have
championed the cause, resulting
in a newfound direction for
community pride in the project.
Media Center
Community Environment: continued
Elements salvaged from the old
school, such as parquet wood
flooring and fieldstone, will be
used in the new building,
preserving some historic
sentiment as well as earning
points for its Platinum LEED
certification.
The Media Center, Gym and
Cafeteria will be open for after
hours events and other
community functions.
The new building will serve as an
instructional site for students
across the district and state to
extend learning opportunities
beyond the school and local
community.
Energy Curriculum
Grade Level
Time
Warren County Unit
NEED Unit
P1
Spring
Physical Science:
Position/Motion/Light/Sound
Primary Stories & More
Entertaining stories and hands-on activities
to introduce basic energy concepts, energy
sources, and electricity to primary students.
P2
Spring
Physical Science: Magnets/Electricity
Exploring Magnets:
Background information and hands-on
experiments to explore the basics of
magnets and magnetism.
P3
Spring
Physical Science: Position/
Motion/Light/Sound
Primary Science of Energy:
Explore fundamental concepts of energy,
including motion, heat, sound and light
with a series of simple activities.
P4
Spring
Physical Science: Magnets/ Electricity
Electro-Works Electricity: A backgrounder
and hands-on experiments explore the
basic concepts of atomic structure and
electricity. Included are center-based
experiments on static electricity, batteries,
magnets, electromagnetism, and circuits.
4th
Weeks
20 – 27
Heat, Sound, Light, Electricity
Energy Works: Explore the basic concepts
of energy and the tasks energy performs,
including motion, light, sound, heat and
growth
5th
Weeks
19 – 24
Unifying Concepts – Energy Transformation
(transfer of energy, heat, sound, light)
Science of Energy:
6th
Various times
Economics & Electricity
What Car Will You Drive?:
Explore conventional and alternative
transportation fuels such as petroleumbased fuels, ethanol, electricity, bio-diesel,
compressed natural gas, and propane
Building As A Teaching Tool
Learning Environment: The building’s interior design elements reinforce the School District’s energy conservation
goals and provide meaningful learning opportunities outside the traditional classroom. Themed hallways make
the everyday experience of walking to class a “green” learning experience.
The “solar hallway” features a
laptop computer charging station
where students can see the energy
being used by the building’s solar
panels.
The “water conservation hallway”
allows students to measure
quantities of roof collected storm
water as it filters through the site’s
organic bio-swales before
returning to the underground
aquifer.
The “recycling hallway” features
community collection bins for
students to quantify collected
materials and relate them to the
global impact on the environment.
Geothermal Hallway
The “geothermal hallway” exposes color keyed piping manifolds with a
temperature gauge allowing students to monitor the system’s
performance. The temperature of water coming into the building from the
ground is measured alongside water leaving the building to re-enter the
ground. This creates the development of mathematical and scientific
relationships relating to the geothermal system’s design.
Environmental Responsibility
Learning Environment:
By engaging the students through
interactive learning, the building will
demonstrate environmental
responsibility and stewardship by
example and engage children in
monitoring the performance of the
LEED Platinum buildings conservation
and sustainable strategies. By meeting
these design challenges, the facility
will not only be energy, water and
resource efficient, but will also provide
a healthy, comfortable, and safe
learning environment for students,
staff and the community.
Interactive Learning
Completely wireless in its technology,
literally any space within the facility, as
well as outside, can become a
computer aided laboratory. On the
“climate control” patio, students can
monitor current conditions at the
weather station, and track the
building’s “net zero” performance
throughout the changing seasons.
Climate Control Patio
Daylight Modeling
Physical Environment –
Active daylighting strategies for
each classroom will reduce
artificial light loads and provide a
healthy, optimum learning
environment. Exterior light
shelves on the south facing
classrooms reflect natural light
into the space while the interior
light shelves reduce glare. The
north facing classrooms utilize
roof mounted “solatubes” which
provide light through vertical
reflective chases in the ceiling.
Due to these daylighting
strategies, it is anticipated that
the artificial lighting use will be
decreased by 70%.
Energy Conservation
Physical Environment – continued
With an emphasis on energy conservation and sustainability, the following strategies were incorporated to help
achieve the school district’s net zero energy goal.
• Insulated concrete form wall construction and high performance building envelope.
• Geothermal HVAC with CO2 monitoring and de-centralized pumping.
• Active daylighting with light shelves and Solatubes®.
• Compact two story design with reduced building volume.
• Roof adhered thin film photovoltaic system.
Interactive Design Process
Planning Process:
The challenge to design the nation’s
first net zero energy public school
facility involved examining every
aspect of the building that would
potentially impacted energy
consumption, both directly and
indirectly. Through a collaborative
process that involved all stakeholders,
i.e. teachers, administrators, architects
and engineers, the energy goals for
the project were established before
the design began, so all decisions that
followed supported the goal of neutral
energy through the use of
conservation and sustainable
strategies.
These same strategies were found to
work harmoniously with many LEED
requirements, enabling the design
team to pursue platinum certification
and set a new standard for public
education facilities.
Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture
2008 Project Data
Submitting Firm :
Project Role
Project Contact
Title
Address
City, State or Province, Country
Phone
Sherman Carter Barnhart
Architect
Kenny Stanfield, AIA
Principal In Charge/Designer
100 Mallard Creek Road, Suite 151
Louisville, Kentucky 40207
502-721-6100
Joint Partner Firm:
Project Role
Project Contact
Title
Address
City, State or Province, Country
Phone
Not Applicable
Other Firm:
Project Role
Project Contact
Title
Address
City, State or Province, Country
Phone
CMTA, Inc. Consulting Engineers
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer
Ken Seibert, P.E.
Principal
10101 Linn Station Road, Suite 530
Louisville, Kentucky 40223
502-326-3085
Construction Firm:
Project Role
Project Contact
Title
Address
City, State or Province, Country
Phone
RG Anderson
Construction
Craig Johnson
President
1801 West End Avenue, Suite 1800
Nashville, Tennessee 37203
615-329-1789
Exhibition of School Planning and Architecture
2008 Project Details
Project Name
Richardsville Elementary
City
Bowling Green
State
Kentucky
District Name
Warren County Board of Education
Supt/President
Dale Brown, Superintendent
Occupancy Date
July 2010
Grades Housed
K – 5th
Capacity(Students)
500 students
Site Size (acres)
13.79 acres
Gross Area (sq. ft.)
72,285 SF
Per Occupant(pupil)
144.53 SF
gross/net please indicate
Gross
Design and Build?
If yes, Total Cost:
Includes:
If no,
Site Development:
$2,100,000 (estimated)
Building Construction:
$12,543,624 (includes actual site cost)
Fixed Equipment:
Other:
Total:
$12,543,624
Targeting Net Zero
The average American school designed to meet
National Energy Codes will use approximately 73
kbtu’s per square foot of energy annually. To
achieve the design team’s goal of being the
nation’s first net zero energy public school,
Richardsville Elementary School will consume
only 17.7 kbtu’s per square foot of energy and
incorporate a 300 kw photovoltaic array capable
of providing 100% of the building’s energy
needs.
The A/E team prioritized and implemented seven
primary conservation and sustainable design
goals to make Richardsville energy neutral and
register for LEED Platinum certification.
By maximizing efficiencies in all building
systems, the energy required for school
operations will be offset by electrical energy
collected from the photovoltaic panels, thus
operating a net zero or energy neutral facility.
The solar panels are designed to deliver energy
to the grid when the energy production exceeds
the needs of the school, such as summer months
when school is not in session.
Targeting Net Zero
High Performance Building Envelope
The aspect of a high performance envelope began with the overall idea of a compact design, both in plan and volume. The reduced amount of
perimeter wall characteristic of the resulting plan aided in reducing HVAC load. This load was further reduced by: eliminating large volumes of
attic space; situating the high bay areas of the building – the gymnasium, cafeteria, and media center – in the center of the “doughnut” plan; and
incorporating the heat pumps in mechanical closets between classrooms.
Super insulated ICF walls and an R-32 roof provided an efficient building envelope ultimately requiring much less energy to heat and cool the
facility.
Active daylighting
The classroom daylighting strategy was two-fold: To provide interior and exterior light shelves attached to a clerestory window in each
classroom, as well as Solatube skylights to enhance the second story spaces. In addition to these features, a large clerestory runs the full length of
the building and harvests daylight for the main lobby, great hall, gymnasium, cafeteria, and media center.
Geothermal HVAC
A geothermal heating and cooling system, coupled with a distributive pumping strategy, will reduce the building’s energy consumption as well as
reduce the area needed for the mechanical spaces. In addition, several geothermal units in the facility will be used solely for hot water
generation, eliminating the need for traditional water heaters.
Alternate renewable energy source
Thin film solar voltaics will be situated on the roof of the facility, collecting sunlight and converting it to electricity to supply 300kw of power back
to the grid. This amount of harvested energy will offset the total energy consumed by the school, resulting in an “energy neutral,” or Net Zero,
facility. In addition, automated dimming controls, wireless computer technology, occupancy sensors, and CO2 monitoring will further reduce the
overall energy needs of the school.
Efficient kitchen cooking strategies
The kitchen energy management strategy involves several areas of concentration. First, providing Energy Star rated equipment will help reduce
energy consumption. Second, by employing combi-ovens in lieu of traditional fryers, and thereby eliminating the Class II hood necessary for
grease-laden vapors, make-up air required for the kitchen will be significantly reduced or possibly eliminated. An added benefit of the combiovens is that they also provide a healthier cooking alternative. Preparing and implementing an energy-conscious business operations strategy for
the kitchen will further aid in energy conservation.
Operations and maintenance plan
During the development of the operations manual, a plan for building security, building after-hours use, and building maintenance was
implemented. Environmentally friendly “green” finishes such as soy-based stained concrete and porcelain pavers were incorporated to reduce
maintenance labor and energy consumption.