Designed by Stantec, a Quaker high school is the first in the US to receive WELL Gold certification, which recognizes a commitment to occupants’ health and well-being. Part of the Sandy Spring Friends School (SSFS), the new Pen y Bryn Upper School serves students in grades 9 through 12. Stantec provided architecture, interior design, and engineering for the Upper School.
Founded in 1961, the SSFS campus houses multiple educational buildings for more than 650 students from preschool through 12th grade. SSFS sits on a pastoral 140-acre campus in Maryland, midway between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Stantec’s simple, elegant design is meant to align with the school’s Quaker values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship. In the new Upper School, students and teachers have access to a variety of educational environments—traditional classrooms, open or closed collaboration areas, and social spaces—that offer dynamic lighting solutions and flexible, ergonomic furniture.
The design features a biophilic strategy involving both environmental elements and energy solutions. The building extends learning to the outdoors with a covered front porch beside a meditation garden, a sunny maker-space patio, and a roof terrace. Inside, expanses of floor-to-ceiling glass provide daylight and exterior views in the classrooms, collaboration areas, offices, and social areas. The interior also incorporates large areas of ash wood walls created from trees reclaimed onsite.
In addition to its WELL Gold design, the Upper School is engineered as a net zero energy-ready facility: The total amount of energy used by the building annually roughly equals the amount of renewable energy created on the site or nearby.
On the building team:
Owner: Sandy Spring Friends School
Design architect and architect of record: Stantec
MEP engineer: 2RW Consultants
Structural engineer: Keast & Hood
General contractor/construction manager: Keller Brothers, Inc.
Civil engineer: Stantec
Landscape architect: Brian J. Stephenson + Company
WELL building consultant: Delos Living
Related Stories
| Mar 12, 2014
14 new ideas for doors and door hardware
From a high-tech classroom lockdown system to an impact-resistant wide-stile door line, BD+C editors present a collection of door and door hardware innovations.
| Mar 4, 2014
If there’s no ‘STEM crisis,’ why build more STEM schools?
Before you get your shorts in a knot, I have nothing against science, technology, engineering, or even mathematics; to the contrary, I love all four “STEM” disciplines (I’m lying about the math). But I question whether we need to be building K-12 schools that overly emphasize or are totally devoted to STEM.
| Feb 26, 2014
Adaptive reuse project brings school into historic paper mill
The project features nontraditional classrooms for collaborative learning, an arts and music wing, and a technologically sophisticated global resource center.
| Feb 14, 2014
Crowdsourced Placemaking: How people will help shape architecture
The rise of mobile devices and social media, coupled with the use of advanced survey tools and interactive mapping apps, has created a powerful conduit through which Building Teams can capture real-time data on the public. For the first time, the masses can have a real say in how the built environment around them is formed—that is, if Building Teams are willing to listen.
| Feb 5, 2014
'School Security' PDF available to BD+C readers - CORRECTED
I've received several requests from BD+C readers who design and build K-12 schools about the 3-part series we ran in our January issue ("Can Design Prevent Another Sandy Hook?"). They wanted to send the issue to their school boards and other public officials with responsibility for school safety. In light of the importance of this topic, as a special service to our readers we're making the series available in PDF form.
| Feb 5, 2014
Extreme conversion: Atlanta turns high-rise office building into high school
Formerly occupied by IBM, the 11-story Lakeside building is the new home for North Atlanta High School.
| Jan 30, 2014
What to expect in the metal building industry in 2014
Every year brings changes. This one won’t be any different. We’ll see growth in some areas, declines in others. Here’s a little preview of what we’ll be writing about 2014 when 2015 comes rolling in.
| Jan 28, 2014
White Paper: How metal buildings deliver long-term value to schools
A new white paper from Star Building Systems outlines the benefits of metal buildings for public and private school building projects.
| Jan 28, 2014
16 awe-inspiring interior designs from around the world [slideshow]
The International Interior Design Association released the winners of its 4th Annual Global Excellence Awards. Here's a recap of the winning projects.
| Jan 15, 2014
Report: 32 U.S. buildings have been verified as net-zero energy performers
The New Buildings Institute's 2014 Getting to Zero Status report includes an interactive map detailing the net-zero energy buildings that have been verified by NBI.
