HOME • SERVICES • PEOPLE • PROJECTS • ON THE BOARDS • EMPLOYMENT • CONTACT US • LINKS • PROJECT LOGIN • NEWS The Evans-Harvard High Performance Classroom at da Vinci Arts Middle School Congratulations Team!  The Evans-Harvard High Performance Classroom at da Vinci Arts Middle School has been awarded LEED Platnium by the U.S Green Building Council - the only K-12 public school building in the country! Celebrate the installation of the plaque - details soon! The Evans-Harvard High Performance Classroom at da Vinci Arts Middle School represents a landmark achievement in school construction, and not just for Portland Public Schools. An innovative and ambitious design is the first LEED Platinum certified K-12 public school building in the country. In a year "net-zero energy" may be tacked onto the building's accomplishments. This page aims to give you some context and background about the building's story. THE BASICS da Vinci Arts Middle School is located at 2508 NE Everett St in Portland, OR. The new classroom is located just south and east of the main school building. The new building serves as the home to da Vinci Arts Middle School's music program and is dedicated to two people: - Dan Evans retired as da Vinci's biology teacher in June 2008. He dreamt up the idea of having a high performance classroom at da Vinci - Bernard Harvard was the principal at da Vinci. Sadly he passed in 2007 before the building was completed. The 1500 square foot building has a main classroom and two practice rooms. View a slide show of how the classroom works LEED Platinum certification Net-zero energy consumption Innovative daylighting design 2007 recipient of the City of Portland's Green Investment Fund Informational Brochure (PDF) HOW IT STARTED [Text excerpt from article in Portland Public Schools' newsletter, October 2008] Three years ago, as the school district was removing portables from da Vinci, science teacher Dan Evans learned of the state-of-the-art, award-winning “high-performance classrooms” at Mt. Angel Abbey near Silverton. He envisioned something similar to replace one of the portables and called PPS energy specialist Catherine Diviney. He told her, in essence, “I want one of these at da Vinci.” With no funding available, prospects for a new building looked dim. But six months later, Diviney received another out-of-the-blue call, this one from the executive director of the Lewis & Clark Environmental Defense Center in Southwest Portland, asking if PPS would like to submit a proposal for money it had received from a settlement. The settlement had nothing to do with PPS — the case was against Owens Corning for clean-air violations in Gresham — but the center’s staff was soliciting ideas from metro-area school districts. Diviney suggested a high-performance classroom at da Vinci, and PPS was granted $125,000. Diviney and Bond were able to parlay that seed money into over $500,000 in grants and other gifts. The da Vinci community raised about $30,000 and the school district agreed to invest $250,000. Ground broke on the project's construction in October of 2008. Construction wrapped up in June 2009. Project Team and Funders This project was made possible by an incredible number of partnerships, pro-bono contributions and a spectacular team. Those involved in this project are listed below, and additionally are recognized on a large sign posted in front of da Vinci Arts Middle School Construction Team: SRG Partnership Inc.: Architect Todd Hess Building Company: General Contractor PBS Engineering: Project Management Funding Partners: Portland Public Schools Oregon Department of Energy Owens Corning & Northwest Environmental Defense Center City of Portland - Green Investment Fund Da Vinci Middle School - school fund raising Business Energy Tax Credit (Oregon Department of Energy) Mark Edlen - personal gift Bonneville Environmental Foundation Energy Trust of Oregon Pro-Bono Contributors: Design Team SRG SolarcEngineering Energy Studies in Buildings Lab - U. of Oregon, G.Z.(Charlie) Brown KPFF Greenworks Listen Acoustics Green Building Services Walsh Construction BEA Consulting Waste Management of Oregon Christenson Electric CISCO American Time & Signal Building Features DAYLIGHT Daylight enters the classroom through a large central skylight. Special louvers built into the skylight control the amount of light allowed to enter the space. This filtered light is then reflected up onto the sloping ceilings by a suspended fabric reflector that also houses efficient electric lights. Reflected onto the ceiling, this light bounces back down into the space, evenly distributed across the entire room. Since electricity for lighting is one of the main energy uses for classroom spaces, this is an important feature in reducing energy consumption. The yellow arrows trace the path of sunlight as it enters the skylight and is dispersed throughout the room. HEATING & COOLING Ventilation air is provided by a highly energy efficient heat recovery ventilator that swaps the heat between the air intake and exhaust. - In the cooler months, fresh air is pre-heated by the outgoing exhaust air. - In the warmer months, incoming fresh air transfers its heat to the outgoing air and enters the space at a comfortably cool temperature The building is super-insulated and sealed against air leaks, reducing heat loss in the winter and heat gain from hot summer outdoor temperatures. Passive cooling uses the concrete slab and walls for heat storage during the day. There is no mechanical cooling in the building. - During cooling season, louver doors are left open overnight to cool down the building's concrete walls and slab with night air - Warm air exits the building through a damper below the skylight, flowing through turbine ventilators that help draw out the hot air In the diagram linked above under 'DAYLIGHTING', the large arrows demonstrate the flow of air during cooling season. Cool air coming from the ground rises, maintaining a comfortable temperature for occupants. As the air warms and accumulates CO2 from occupants, it rises up into the skylight well and out through the turbine ventilators. STORMWATER The new classroom building is sited adjacent to da Vinci’s extensive and thriving rain garden built and planted by students and community members in 2002. As part of this project, a new landscaped courtyard will be installed on the north side of the classrrom. Additioanlly, the new building has stormwater features that connect the new building and landscaping to the existing rain garden visually and functionally. INDOOR ENVIRONMENT As a music room, close attention was paid to how this building would perform acoustically. Special design elements make this building the perfect place to play music. - The two practice rooms are sound proof, so students can practice individually or in small groups without disripting class - Special curtains hung on the concrete walls absorb sound and prevent it from echoing in the room - The practice room walls are intentionally not parallel Other elements of the building's design contribute to a really pleasant indoor environment. For example, the paints and materials were chosen specifically for their low toxicity. They won't give off fumes that could be harmful to your health. SOLAR After all possible energy usage is minimized using the strategies above, a unique photovoltaic array on the south-facing roof provides the electrical power used in the space. This array is comprised of 153 tiles that integrate into the roofing tile system, providing a power generating integrated roofing assembly. The system has been sized to provide all of the building’s electricity usage, making the building net-zero energy user over the course of the year. Media May 28th, 2009: "Shining a (Natural) Light on Green Schools", New York Times Green, Inc. Blog May 28th, 2009:"NY Times looks at DaVinci daylighting scheme and its "halo" / "donut", Portland Architecture Blog May 28th, 2009: "Shedding light on green school design", Consulting-Specifying Engineer (csemag.com) May 27th, 2009: "School’s new room becomes teaching tool", Daily Journal of Commerce April 9th, 2009: "daVinci shows off new solar panels at open house", Oregonlive.com March 5th, 2009:"A school’s music in a sustainable key", Portland Tribune October 21st, 2008: The Burnside Blog Article in October's PPS Pulse Newsletter Office of Sustainable Development's Green Investment Fund website Informational Flyer- handed out at Groundbreaking Solar Today article on high performance classrooms featuring da Vinci Tours and Events Click here for links and additional images.