Over a five-day stretch last December, students at the Carroll School in Lincoln, Mass., witnessed the installation of a modular classroom building like no other.
The new 950-sf structure, which will serve as the school's tutoring offices for the next few years, is loaded with sustainable features like sun-tunnel skylights, doubled-insulated low-e glazing, a cool roof, light shelves, bamboo trim, low-VOC materials, daylight and occupancy sensors, and a quiet, high-efficiency ventilation system.
The relocatable classroom, named SmartSpace by its creators, is one of a number of high-performance modular classrooms to emerge on the market during the last few years, and it's the first LEED-level unit to be installed in the U.S.
“With SmartSpace, we wanted to rethink typical modular design and construction approaches for classroom buildings,” says Mark N. Dolny, AIA, senior associate with ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, which teamed with modular manufacturer NRB Inc., Ephrata, Pa., and Littleton, Mass.-based modular leasing company Triumph Leasing Corp. to develop the SmartSpace design.
Dolny says simple additions like a double-door entry vestibule and expansive exterior glazing (6x16 feet) go a long way toward reducing energy consumption and improving the interior classroom environment.
“Most modular classrooms don't have vestibules, so conditioned air instantly leaks out when people come and go,” says Dolny. A recent energy study of SmartSpace conducted by The Hickory Consortium, Harvard, Mass., confirms the team's theory on the importance of vestibules: “It was one of the biggest factors in the energy study,” says Dolny, adding that the unit beat Massachusetts state energy code by 56% during testing.
The SmartSpace team was careful to keep the concept “realistic and reasonable” as it pertains to first cost, shipping logistics, and constructability, according to Philip L. Laird, AIA, principal with ARC, who collaborated on the design.
“We wanted to make sure this was a doable project and not just a pretty poster that got stuck in a drawer somewhere,” says Laird. “The solution had to be something that NRB could easily build in its shop and ship to the site.”
To that point, the design team worked closely with NRB and Triumph to stay within the size constraints and material specifications for a typical modular classroom. Common materials such as corrugated steel siding, medium-density fiberboard walls, and TPO roofing were specified over more complicated, labor-intensive solutions, like vegetated roofing. Also, dimensions were limited to 25 feet wide, 38 feet long, and 15 feet high to ease shipping to the site and installation. The building is shipped in two pieces. Once connected, the structure is strong enough to permit relocation of the classroom in one piece.
The team also excluded exotic technologies like solar and wind power for fear that school districts would balk at the higher first cost.
“We played with the idea of taking the building completely off the grid with photovoltaics, but PVs are still an expensive technology,” says Dolny. The fact that many modular classrooms are leased works against solar and wind power, he says. “If school districts are leasing, they don't have a 20-year payback to work with, and they can't get tax credits or grants to help pay for the systems.”
Project FROG makes leaps in California
In California, another high-performance modular classroom venture, Project FROG (BD+C May 2006, p. 9), is making inroads of its own.
The company is working on its first installation, a 9,500-sf child development center at the City College of San Francisco, to be completed this summer. The development will incorporate 10 of the firm's Dragonfly and Turtle “green” modular units interconnected to form a campus with classrooms, work areas, office space, reading rooms, a preschool, and motor skills areas for both preschoolers and toddlers.
Project FROG spokesperson Nikki Tankursley says the company is in talks with several other colleges about building similar child development centers. “We've also gotten calls from major Silicon Valley corporations looking to build child development centers for their employees,” says Tankursley. “I think we're on to a nice market here.”
In addition, the company received news late last month that its modular units are now “pre-check” approved by the Division of the State Architect. That means that school districts and community colleges that wish to install Project FROG modules will get expedited permitting and approvals from the DSA.
“Having DSA PC approval tells administrators these buildings meet tough structural, life safety, and environmental standards,” said Leela Gill, COO with Project FROG, a collaboration between San Francisco-based design firm MKThink and B&H Engineering, a San Carlos, Calif.-based manufacturing firm.
The company's modular units, which range in size from 1,000 sf to 1,700 sf, also meet the high-performance school requirements of California's Collaborative for High Performance Schools program, exceed the state's Title 24 energy requirements, and are LEED certifiable. Green features include abundant daylight (up to 800 sf of glass in a single module), T5 or T8 high-efficiency fluorescent lighting, occupancy and daylight sensors, recycled acoustical ceiling tiles with a minimum NRC of 0.60, no-VOC carpet, and recycled rubber flooring.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Dual physics buildings aim for LEED Silver
Two new physics buildings providing 197,000 sf of teaching, study, and office space are opening at Texas A&M University. The $82.5-million George P. Mitchell '40 Physics Building and the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy offer new research laboratories, graduate and undergraduate lounges, offices, a 468-seat lecture hall, and a 180-seat aud...
| Aug 11, 2010
Recreation facility scores with sustainable features
A new $79.1 million health and learning center is under construction on the Northern Arizona University campus in Flagstaff. The 270,000-sf facility will house recreation space, classrooms, health and counseling services, and the Lumberjack Stadium for track and soccer teams. Designed by the Phoenix office of OWP/P Cannon Design with Mortenson Construction as CM, the project is aiming for LEED ...
| Aug 11, 2010
University building gets revamped, reused
KSS Architects of Philadelphia is designing the addition and renovation to SUNY Cortland's Studio West, a 43,000-sf metal panel and brick building dating to 1948. The 20,000-sf, two-story addition will become the Professional Studies Building, housing the consolidated departments of Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Studies; Communications Disorders and Sciences; and Kinesiology and Sports Managem...
| Aug 11, 2010
And the world's tallest building is…
At more than 2,600 feet high, the Burj Dubai (right) can still lay claim to the title of world's tallest building—although like all other super-tall buildings, its exact height will have to be recalculated now that the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced a change to its height criteria.
| Aug 11, 2010
Project is music to school's ears
Florida Gulf Coast University is building a $7.55 million Fine Arts Building on its campus near Ft. Myers, Fla. The 25,000-sf building—the first project in the school's plan for an entire music complex—will house the music program of the College of Arts and Sciences. The facility includes a 200-seat recital hall, rehearsal hall, music labs, studio rooms, and administration offices.
| Aug 11, 2010
BU students move into high-rise dorm
Boston University’s newest residential building rises 26 stories above the Charles River. Part of the school’s 10-acre John Hancock Student Village, the 396,000-sf tower houses 962 students and has three apartments for faculty use. The tower also has a large multipurpose room on the top floor.
| Aug 11, 2010
Expansion of chemistry facility no experiment
A September ground breaking at Wayne State University in Detroit puts the school’s A. Paul Schaap Chemistry Building and Lecture Hall on track for a December 2010 completion. The $37 million, 96,000-sf facility is the second phase of a two-phase project to expand and renovate the existing chemistry building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Community college’s hillside learning center
The Earl E. and Dorothy J. Dellinger Learning Resource Center at Southwest Virginia Community College in Richlands, Va., is the centerpiece of this mountainside school. Designed by Arlington, Va.-based The Lukmire Partnership, the 50,000-sf, two-story building connects the upper and lower campuses, which are separated by a 70-foot vertical grade change.
| Aug 11, 2010
Broadway-style theater headed to Kentucky
One of Kentucky's largest performing arts venues should open in 2011—that's when construction is expected to wrap up on Eastern Kentucky University's Business & Technology Center for Performing Arts. The 93,000-sf Broadway-caliber theater will seat 2,000 audience members and have a 60×24-foot stage proscenium and a fly loft.
| Aug 11, 2010
Polshek unveils design for University of North Texas business building
New York City-based architect Polshek Partnership unveiled its design scheme for the $70 million Business Leadership Building at the University of North Texas in Denton. Designed to provide UNT’s 5,600-plus business majors with a state-of-the-art learning environment, the 180,000-sf facility will include an open atrium, an internet café, and numerous study and tutoring rooms—al...
