Sustainability
Sustainable design for a new elementary school
One of our current projects, which we couldn’t be more excited about, is designing a nature-based independent school, called Slate School, on former farmlands in North Haven, Connecticut. The school’s educational philosophy is centered around discovery, curiosity, and nature. We’re no strangers to design for early childhood education with nature as a core principle, with…
Read MoreDesigning a nature-based school
Recently, we have been asking ourselves how to design to support the educational philosophy of curiosity and nature-based learning for a new independent elementary school called Slate School. When designing for a school, in particular, it’s essential to strongly adhere to its core principles in order to create the best environment for learning. To this end,…
Read MoreHow We’re Implementing The Fitwel System in Our Own Office
Big news around these parts—we have taken the Fitwel test! The Fitwel System is a building certification standard that optimizes building occupant health and productivity through targeted improvements to workplace design and policies. Typically, these measure large office complexes or government buildings. But we thought it would be fun to look into how a small office…
Read MoreFitwel: A Building Certification for Healthy Workplaces
If you know about our firm, you know that we care deeply about sustainable practices in design and construction. To that end, Karin recently became an Ambassador of The Fitwel System, a building certification standard that optimizes building occupant health and productivity through targeted improvements to workplace design and policies. Fitwel is a building certification that…
Read MoreTHE DECISION TO DESIGN AND BUILD SUSTAINABLY
For most people, one of the reasons to live sustainably is to lessen humans’ negative impact on the viability of the earth’s resources. Because 40% of CO2 emissions in the US come from the building sector, the decision to design and build sustainably can make a huge impact on the environment. There are…
Read MoreWhat You Need to Know About Sustainable Building Certifications
There are many definitions for sustainability and what it means to the building community. And there are many designations and certification programs to choose from. So, how do you decide what is the best approach for your design and construction project? It depends on your priorities, your climate, your immediate site, whether your building is…
Read MoreHow to Incorporate Sustainability into Your Early Childhood Center
What is sustainability in construction? Most people are familiar with the term sustainability, but what does it mean in construction? If we were to ask most people to define it, they would probably come up with terms such as green design, environmentally friendly, and renewable energy. The U.S. Green Building Council defines it as “a…
Read MoreCase Study: Early Childhood Center – Sustainable Construction
How do we incorporate sustainability into an early childhood center building? Completed in 2013, this early childhood learning center is built on land shared by a Quaker meeting house. The client group sought to accommodate 72 children aged 3 months to 5 years in a structure that promotes experiential learning and interaction with the environment…
Read MoreFriends Center for Children tour with Solar Youth
We hosted Solar Youth to explore the sustainable design features at the Friends Center for Children today. We started at the Friends Center with a walk up the wooden ramp, to the playground areas. We then explored the interior of the building and discussed the many ideas and decisions that go into creating a building…
Read MoreEarth Day at Hamden Hall
Karin was invited to review and critique the Earth Day sustainability projects at Hamden Hall Country Day School, an independant school for preschool to grade 12 students, along with architect Peter Coombs from Essex. The assigned project was a school campus with various buildings to be designed and modeled within a few days, incorporating various…
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