Supporting School Boards' Educational Mission
 
 
   
 

By implementing successfully in our schools energy-efficient and environmentally sensitive design elements, we create high performance educational facilities that support the following school boards' educational missions:

          Reducing Operating Costs
          Durant Road Middle School, Raleigh, NC, is a showcase for natural lighting. Light enters the classrooms, cafeteria, media center and gymnasium through a series of well-integrated roof monitors. Inside the monitors are fabric baffles to prevent glare and provide bright but diffuse light. Because using natural light costs less than paying for electricity year after year, and because daylighting decreases the cooling needs, their operating costs are 50 cents per square foot less than comparable schools in the area. This saved over $77,000 in the first year of operation. 

"The [Durant Road Middle School] project was Wake County's first experience with daylit schools, and exceeded all expectations. The project was under budget and the payback for the daylighting features were less than two years. This was due to the downsizing of the mechanical and electrical systems and the reduction in energy costs, made possible by the daylighting."
Patrick L Herron, Ed.D.
Former Assistant Superintendent
Wake County Schools

          Designing Buildings That Teach Sustainability
          Roy Lee Walker Elementary School, McKinney, TX, is truly a "lived in" educational tool for high performance systems and environmental practices in schools.
  • An eco-garden teaches students about water conservation and provides a place to study aquatic plants and animals. 
  • Rainwater is collected from the school's roof, stored in above-ground cisterns, and used for irrigation. The students can see every day how much water has been collected at the display by the front door. 
  • Daylighting is incorporated throughout the school.
  • The school’s energy and water conservation systems are monitored and shown on the school's weather station.
"Throughout this whole [design] process, Innovative Design has been an active proponent and leader in their ability to design and create a sustainable school that will last for 40-45 years. Mike Nicklas and his team have proven to be our best choice, and they certainly have the ability to repeat this process in whichever school district is lucky enough to employ them."
Wyndol Fry, Assistant Superintendent/Plant Management, McKinney Independent School District
McKinney, Texas
 
 
          Improving Academic Performance
          East Clayton Elementary School, Clayton, NC. A 1995 study conducted on the performance of Innovative Design’s daylit, energy-efficient schools indicated that they save significant operating money and they actually improve student performance. When comparing End-Of-Grade Tests and California Achievement Tests, the students who attended the daylit schools were out-performing the students in non-daylit schools in the same county by 14%.

"I firmly believe every child deserves an environment like this - one designed to be conducive to learning. This is a vision of what all schools should be like for every child."
"You just feel energized and when children are energized, they are more apt to learn, ... that’s what daylighting does."
Peggy Smith, Principal East Clayton Elementary School, Clayton, NC
 
 
          Protecting the Environment
          At Smith Middle School, Chapel Hill, NC, rainwater is collected from the roof of the school and is stored in a 100,000-gallon underground cistern. Under normal annual rainfall conditions, the 2.6 million gallons of harvested rainwater will provide enough water for all the toilets in the school as well as the irrigation of an adjacent athletic field. Because of the reduced runoff, the school also saved $50,000 in deferred retention pond costs.

"Most of the sustainable components recommended by Innovative Design…were included in the construction of Walker Elementary, but the key to this project's success is that McKinney ISD continues to incorporate sustainable design in all new schools in the district." 
Pam Groce, Program Manager
State Energy Conservation Office, Austin, Texas

"Please accept this letter as a strong recommendation in acknowledgement of the work you and your firm have performed in the area of sustainable buildings design….We have utilized the green building design manuals and material you prepared for the Clark County Public Schools in Nevada. They have identified numerous factors to be considered and the practical questions that school planners and designs must address when attempting to incorporate green building design concepts."
Yale Stenzler, Executive Director
Interagency Committee on School Construction

          Designing for Health, Safety and Comfort
          A U.S. General Accounting Office investigation of the conditions of our country’s 80,000 public schools concluded that over half the schools in the United States had poor indoor environmental conditions – factors that were directly affecting the health, safety and comfort of 42 million students.
Innovative Design addresses these issues head on by routinely incorporating:
  • non-polluting materials;
  • increased ventilation air;
  • CO2 sensors to determine when increased outside air is required
  • sound control strategies;
  • lighting designs that minimize eye strain; and
  • natural daylighting.
"The daylit classrooms have increased the well-being of the students and teachers and are at least partly responsible for our record high attendance rates. We are running about 3% points ahead of the rest of the county in our attendance. We stay around 98%." 
Tom Benton, Principal
Durant Road Middle School
Raleigh, NC

"At Roy Lee Walker last year, our attendance rate for teachers was the highest in the district. We are just sure that our natural daylighting not only impacts our children in how they learn but also teachers and attitude." 
Deb Beasley, Principal
Roy Lee Walker Elementary School
McKinney, TX

          Supporting Community values
          A high performance school supports and reflects community values through its design and operation. Schools can help avoid air pollution and traffic congestion, creating a cleaner local environment.

By saving energy and buying local building materials, sustainable schools are supporting their own communities. Each dollar spent on local products and services is re-spent locally several times. This can lead to more jobs, economic stability, and support from the community’s businesses. Every energy dollar saved is actually worth three dollars to the local economy. 
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