Today more than ever, educational providers are being asked to do more with fewer and fewer financial resources. Properly designing, constructing and maintaining educational facilities will strongly contribute to a positive, healthy, safe environment in which to work and learn.
Schools today are a highly specialized building type. Some of the challenges and issues we address include:
Life Safety
Addressing life safety means providing a secure path of exiting, which is enhanced by using fire separation walls and automatic fire suppression systems. Our architects understand building code requirements and ensure their designs meet or exceed these standards.
Lighting
Lighting, once considered a basic need, is now seen as a major design component. Studies prove that quality natural lighting has a direct effect on learning. Inappropriate fixtures and lamps can flicker, buzz, cause glare, create dark spots and affect the mood of a classroom’s occupants. SEH can evaluate a number of lighting elements, such as lighting shelves and flexible lighting schemes (e.g., lighting a room to accommodate projection while still providing enough light for students to take notes), and conservation measures that maximize the use
of natural light.
Acoustics
Speech recognition, intelligibility and quiet are critical in the learning environment. If the instructors’ consonants are lost due to high reflectivity and exterior noise, production and education suffer greatly. Transmission Loss (TL) is also critical to shield students from outside noise or from adjacent classrooms.
SEH uses 3-D acoustical modeling, specifies absorbent and reflective materials to meet low room reverberation times, and specifies wall materials to meet high TL values for privacy and quiet. SEH can also specify and plan audiovisual systems for auditoriums, and to meet ADA requirements for rooms used by students with special hearing needs.
Surfaces
Material finishes in a classroom affect sound quality, maintenance and comfort. Even colors affect mood and learning potential. SEH’s certified interior designers will help our architectural staff make informed material recommendations.
Energy Consumption
SEH has been a member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) since 2003, and we have LEED accredited architects on staff. These affiliations mean we welcome the responsibility to promote energy efficiency, use recovered materials, waste reduction options and pollution prevention in all our facility designs.
SEH team members are experienced in designing and specifying energy-saving modifications to existing systems. We can also provide energy-consumption analyses. Our high-performance facility designs reduce energy consumption and increase natural lighting.
Heating systems and lighting are primary candidates for energy modifications. Intelligent temperature controls can be used to conserve energy during unoccupied periods and to take advantage of cool outside temperatures to ease air conditioning costs. Lighting controls include occupancy and daylight sensors, as well as lighting “scenes” to turn off artificial lights when they are not needed.
Roof Systems
There are many options for roof systems, include choice of fabric, reinforcing, fastening systems and seaming. We have witnessed the effects of harsh winters and summer heat on exposed roofs, and will recommend an insulation system, roof materials and drainage pattern that are appropriate for your project and the building’s use.
