Polytechnic North Campus Achieves LEED for Schools Gold

Buro Happold

30/01/2012 Written by: Heidi Creighton No comments

Buro Happold is the sustainability consultant to the Polytechnic School and their North Campus project, a six building, 34,000 ft² development in Pasadena, California.

Polytechnic School is a top rated private college preparatory school, which has been praised for its ‘national reputation for producing scholars, artists and athletes’. True to its credo which includes, “We strive to be responsible and contributing members of our families, our school community, and the world”, Polytechnic School set out to, and has achieve, high goals in sustainability.

In connection with their 100th anniversary, Polytechnic School undertook a considerable capital campaign to modernize the campus. The North Campus, which is home to both the Lower and Middle Schools, includes classrooms, administration, dining commons, and a library. The improvements include re-programming, restoration, renovation, relocation of buildings and new construction.

The North Campus team was challenged with relocating and renovating existing historical buildings and designing new buildings to compliment the campus. An Innovation in Design credit was awarded to the project for building relocation, as this reuse measure achieves a high environmental impact by reducing the need for new materials and keeping the structure out of waste/recycling streams.

Additional sustainable features include:

• Bicycle paths and storage
• All parking underground
• Water-efficient landscape design
• Potable water use reduction
• Significant energy performance above California energy code minimums
• Building materials with recycled content
• Locally extracted and manufactured materials
• Enhanced access to daylight and views

The project was awarded LEED Gold in early January, 2012. Buro Happold is continuing its work on the campus, on the currently under construction Upper School Math and Science building which is also slated to achieve LEED Gold.