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Username
Suni Dillard
Proposer First Name
Suni
Proposer Email
sdillard@hmfh.com
Proposer Last Name
Dillard
Proposer Company/Organization
HMFH Architects
Proposer Phone
(360) 201-9309
Proposer Job Title
Architect
Proposed Session Description
How can a sustainable school be a teaching tool? What makes a school sustainable? How do you engage teaching professionals to leverage a school’s pedagogy? This session focuses on sustainable concepts at Bristol Aggie developed from curriculum objectives. We will present our design process, including visioning sessions that led teachers to develop design goals which in turn aimed to augment their teaching models. The design team developed these goals into systems that support the curriculum and remained mindful of budget. Our goal was to create an environment that encourages students to engage with the buildings. This required interactive and expressive systems that could be studied, or adapted. As Bristol’s curriculum changes, so can the buildings they inhabit. At Bristol County Agricultural High School, the campus is the classroom. The site is an arboretum; buildings are structured with timber encouraging conversations of carbon and land use. Composting toilets manage human waste using no potable water. Rainwater is harvested for irrigation. These strategies prompt questions about water use and quality. This project exhibits the shared respect between designers and teachers leading to a functional and truly sustainable school.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
The case study is an agricultural public high school in MA and addresses the importance of education. Providing public educational spaces that promote positive learning environments is important to social and economic justice and if these (civic) buildings can also be environmentally responsible they're economically responsible to their communities.
Learning Objectives
Understand how to use educational goals to support sustainable building goals.
Understand how a school building can facilitate learning.
Learn ways to communicate how design strategies can be to teaching strategies for educators.
Understand the benefit of designing social, economic, and environmentally sustainable schools for communities
Has this session been presented before?
No
Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 1 - No prior knowledge needed.
Session Format Details
Short presentation about the project and then a moderated panel discussion between the members of the design team and the school both talking about strategies and implementation as the design progressed, using slides.

Strongest Content Connection - Boston 2021

Comments about your speaker roster
The speaker roster includes a department chair and instructor at Bristol Aggie, the Landscape Architect, Architect (me), and our sustainable design consultant.
Reviewer 1
Veerkamp, Danny
Reviewer 2
Li, Arlen
Curator
Li, Arlen
Proposal #
208
Session #
615
Committee Decision
Accepted
Full Description
Sustainability needs to be integrated in the early design phases of a project and with schools it should also be incorporated into the educational vision. Publicly funded schools have both an opportunity and a responsibility to their communities. Understanding how to use curriculum goals to support design goals benefits the shared mission of an economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable environment