Eco-friendly San Antonio school combines history and sustainability

The 113,000-sf Rolling Meadows Elementary School in San Antonio is the Judson Independent School District’s first sustainable facility, with green features such as vented roofs for rainwater collection and regionally sourced materials. Shaded outdoor classrooms and ponds and gardens on the property will reinforce sustainability by helping students learn about the environment. For indoor learning, designers at the local office of SHW Group arranged classrooms in pods of six to eight rooms around a common area that’s used for large group instruction. The interior design will encourage learning about the area’s historical missions—each pod is named after a mission, and the common area features motifs reflective of the nearby San Antonio River. The $14 million school currently serves 500 students, but has the capacity to expand to 750.