Lessons Learned
It could be that the essential component in successful sustainable building is simple thoughtfulness. That certainly has been the hallmark in the relationship between the Los Altos School District and San Francisco-based Gelfand Partners Architects – a relationship that has given the district a greened, modernized infrastructure and Gelfand a slew of honors and awards.
From the beginning, Gelfand’s thoughtfulness had three simple components: Ask clients what they want and give them more than they expect; take into account the people who will have to live with your buildings for years afterward; and bring your project in on time and on budget.
The collaboration started eight years ago when the nine-school district (two intermediate and seven elementary), located in an very affluent suburb of San Jose, passed a $94.7 million bond issue to modernize classrooms that were approaching 40 years in age. Built in an era of cheap energy and construction materials, the buildings’ inefficiencies and inadequacies were now a source of high concern.
 |
After the bond passed, Gelfand was one of five architectural firms the district approached to undertake modernization and sustainability projects. Working from a master plan that it had adopted in 1996, the district’s intent in hiring so many architects was to produce a diverse set of designs. But once actual renovations got underway, the district realized that Gelfand was the only firm that was performing according to plan.
“We got the job to modernize Georgina Blach Intermediate School ,” says Larry Schadt, AIA, who is Gelfand’s current Los Altos School District project manager. “We did a good job and came in on time and under budget.” But even though the Blach project had turned out well, the district realized that it didn’t have the budget to do as well with the other schools as it had done with Blach. Realizing that Gelfand’s performance in meeting a budget and timeline might make it an ideal source for a new master plan, it asked the firm to come up with one.
 |
“When we set out to create a new master plan, we asked people – teachers, parents and administrators – what they wanted,” says Schadt. “Then we prepared a two-phase plan whose first phase was to rehabilitate existing facilities. We looked at each school with three things in mind: Modernize the buildings; create a baseline where all basic utilities would be brought up to the same level district-wide; and where there were particularly acute needs, such as for administrative space, we would build it.”
|
Types of Energy-Saving Devices Installed Cool Roofs – White reflective mineral cap sheeting reduces absorption of thermal energy from sunlight, thus reducing classroom temperature. Daylighting – North-facing clerestories combined with electrical lighting provide 40 foot candles of illumination on all work surfaces. Automatic daylighting controls use photocell controls to control dimming ballasts. Downsized Cooling Equipment – Installing lower-capacity equipment increased efficiency but did not reduce comfort levels. High-Efficiency HVAC Package Units – Units with energy-efficiency ratings of 13 were specified Increased Insulation in older buildings ups the R factor. Natural Ventilation – Louvers on the lower classroom walls and clerestory windows at the top provide low-cost ways to pull in cool air and expel hot air. Premium Efficiency Motors were used for the air conditioning units’ supply fans. |
Although it’s a common practice for architectural firms to create alternates when drawing schematics, the school district appreciated Gelfand’s willingness to do so. “We would draw at least one alternate that called for more than we thought the budget can afford on the chance that the cost of construction might decline and we would have a ready-made set of plans available to take advantage of that. For Santa Rita Elementary School we drew up three alternate classroom blocks. The strategy gave us flexibility and allowed to us to adjust quickly to changing conditions.”
Schadt says that when Gelfand started the master plan project, “we sensed that the district wanted to do an energy-efficient project. Our firm had worked with schools before and we had been innovators with daylighting and ventilation. Daylighting not only cuts down on artificial lighting use and cost, it also creates a more conducive learning environment.” Gelfand’s standard approach is to build north-facing clerestory windows that work in conjunction with sensors. On a bright day, the system’s sensors will automatically dim the interior lights and let natural northern light illuminate classrooms.
The Clerestories Do Double Duty
The clerestory windows also play a key role in Gelfand’s ventilation scheme. “We connect motors and clerestories to the school’s energy management system. If there’s no need for air conditioning or heat, the EMS will automatically open the clerestory windows for airflow. The clerestories also work with louvers that have been installed at the base of the classroom walls. “We can manipulate both sets of windows to get an ideal flow of cool air into the classroom. Hot air rises up and out through the clerestories; cool air flows in through the louvers,” says Schadt. “Our fundamental idea is to automate the process, ending the need for teachers to take classroom time to reach high windows with levers to open or close them.”
 |
| An exterior and interior (below) view of the clerestory windows Gelfand installed to coordinate natural and artificial lighting. |
 |
Because the district wanted work on phase one to be done during the school year, as well as summer months, Gelfand found it could only work on two schools at a time. “The only facilities large enough to hold displaced student bodies were the two intermediate schools,” says Schadt, “so we would set up ‘portable villages,’ well away from the middle school students, to temporarily accommodate elementary school students while we worked on their schools. We worked on Almond and Springer, first, then Loyola and Santa Rita, and finally, Oak.”
Despite Gelfand’s expertise and luxury of being able to focus on – and learn from – only two projects at a time, there were still some surprises along the way. “One surprise,” says Schadt, “is when we thought our ventilation system was going to work as planned, but then it turned out to work too well. It created such suction that we were drawing in dust and dirt. We eventually solved the problem by installing furnace filters on the louvers.”
 |
| In addition to their daylighting capabilities, the windows in the gym shared by the district’s two intermediate schools add a dramatic vertical architectural element. |
Another problem came when installing rooftop air conditioning units at Blach and making sure they didn’t leak. “It became a kind of nightmare. So we went to a split system, where each classroom has a small, independent condenser unit that won’t make the whole system go down if it fails.”
Gelfand recycled heavily. “We didn’t demolish, so we re-used,” says Schadt. “We stripped the school buildings down to the studs and re-used the original wood, resheathing it for seismic resistance. With the roofs torn off, we were able to put clerestories in. We did have to replace all the classroom casework, which had outlived its usefulness and did not meet current code in terms of its accessibility.” He says Gelfand’s specs required low VOC paints, plywood and finishes, “but the cost of these never became a big issue.”
Schadt says that since the firm has been working with Los Altos School District for several years, Gelfand has returned from time to time to adjust HVAC or daylight harvesting systems. “At Blach, as good as the daylight system looked on paper, we were dealing with nascent technologies that required us to cobble together a system on our own. It became ‘a tweaking system’ that finally fell into line after several adjustments, as well as the industry catching up with us and providing more complete daylighting systems. We were down there for so long that we were able to learn a lot as we went along.”
Empathy for Workers
|
Awards Generated by Gelfand’s Los Altos Project 2006: AIACC Savings by Design Energy Efficiency Integration Honor Award, Santa Rita Elementary School , Los Altos , Calif. 2005: Environmental Design Research Association Places Journal Place Design Award, Los Altos School District Master Plan Update & Build-Out, Los Altos, Calif. 2005: School Construction News/DesignShare.com Citation Award, Santa Rita Elementary School , Los Altos , Calif. 2004: AIASF Green Design Award, Los Altos School District Master Plan Update & Build-Out, Los Altos, Calif. 2004: Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, Exemplary Sustainable Building Award, Blach and Egan Intermediate Schools Joint-Use Gyms, Los Altos , Calif. 2004: School Construction News/DesignShare.com Recognized Value Award, Almond Elementary School , Los Altos , Calif.
|
One of the biggest things the firm learned was to know when to advocate an idea and when to find an alternative. “We pushed for linoleum, which the district decided was too expensive,” says Schadt. (At one school, Oak, the PTA raised money to pay to have linoleum installed.) “One thing that we never lost sight of was a sympathy for maintenance and operations, because these were the people who would have to maintain the place long after we were gone. For example, double-paned glass gives you a better R value, but on public school campuses where money is tight, you can’t expect maintenance to be able to stock double-pane glass. So what we did was install regular laminated single-pane windows, knowing they would be cheaper to replace. Where we caught up on our lost R value was by adding more roof installation, which brought us up to an R30.”
Once Los Altos ‘s revamped schools began operating with their new energy-saving devices, Gelfand began receiving awards based on its use of sustainable materials and provable energy savings. “If you look at the before and after Pacific Gas & Electricity records, you’ll see that the district is now enjoying about a 35 percent across-the-board savings in energy costs,” says Schadt. “In fact, even though we almost doubled the square footage at Blach, its monthly energy bills are now lower than when it was smaller.”
|
PROJECT participants District: Los Altos School District , Los Altos, Calif. Architect: Gelfand Partners Architects, San Francisco Architectural Subconsultants: Biggs Cardosa Associates, San Jose, Calif. (structural); Pete O. Lapid & Associates, Oakland, Calif. (electrical); MHC Engineers, San Francisco (mechanical); Telamon Engineering Consultants, San Francisco(civil engineering); The Miller Company, San Francisco (landscaping) General Contractor: Thompson Pacific, San Rafael, Calif. Utility Advisor: Pacific Gas & Electric, San Francisco Energy Consultant: Eley Associates, San Francisco Title 24 Consultant: Energysoft LLC, Novato, Calif. Commissioning Consultant: Portland Energy Conservation Inc., Portland, Ore. Commissioning Agent: Keithly Welsh Associates, Burien, Wash Los Altos District Schools* Elementary: Almond* Intermediate: Blach* * Worked on by Gelfand |
Gelfand finished almost all of phase one of the master plan last fall ( Oak Elementary School is finishing up its phase-one modernization). “We’re just touching on phase two right now,” says Schadt, “which will support mostly new construction, such as a new classroom block and library at Loyola and a new multi-use building at Springer, among others. One thing we’re exploring is displacement ventilation for the next phase.”
When Gelfand does go back to the district with a fleshed-out set of phase-two plans, they will likely be more robust and comprehensive plan than the district is anticipating. “One of our operational principles is to gear plans to a client’s premise, but to include more details and possibilities that they might be expecting.”