Sep 4 2010
Pacific Ridge, a private college-preparatory school located in Carlsbad, is aiming to be one of the most energy-efficient and sustainable campuses in the country and recently got one step closer on their path towards LEED for Schools Gold Certification.
New high school at Pacific Ridge
On August 31st, Swinerton joined faculty, students, parents and community members for a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new 32,500-square-foot high school building. Centrally located on the campus, the two-story high school was constructed of concrete tilt-up exterior walls and internal steel framing with metal deck. Features include 19 classrooms in a semi-circular Harkness setting, four state-of-the-art science labs, two reading lounges, a college counseling area, teacher and administration offices and a new athletic field. Swinerton Builders San Diego was the General Contractor and the Design Architect was Carrier Johnson + CULTURE.
A major mission of Pacific Ridge School is to increase student global awareness/engagement and ethical responsibility. As a result, the Design Team was tasked with the challenge of creating a design that was sensitive to the environment and ongoing sustainability over the life of the structure, as well as site utilization. The Green project design features passive air conditioning methods, passive light shelves, Crestron lighting controls, solar tube skylights, solar shading, roofing reflectance techniques, bioswales, and a number of other green building and site components.
As a result, the building energy performance is expected to achieve a 40% savings over a similar building designed to the California Energy Code. Potable water usage is estimated to be 30% less than that of a conventional code compliant building. Utilizing City reclaimed water, installation of a synthetic turf soccer field and use of drought tolerant plant material is expected to reduce irrigation water consumption by 50% below conventional irrigation measures.
Source: http://www.swinerton.com/