For Immediate Release: January 24, 2013
Media Contacts: Emma Filar, Marketing & Communications Associate
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Green Schools
New Exhibition Provides Unprecedented Survey of Environmental Designs
WASHINGTON, D.C.—This spring, the National Building Museum will debut the first-ever museum exhibition dedicated to the greening of American schools. Featuring over 40 exemplary projects from new construction to rehabs tomodular classrooms, the exhibition will survey the extraordinary breadth of green school design in the United States through sample building materials, photographs, video, and green products. The exhibition will also showcase the award-winning Sprout Space™ classroom, a cost-effective and healthy solution for modular and new school construction, designed by Perkins+Will, a leading international architecture and design firm. Opening on March 3, 2013, the exhibition will explore the multiple facets of green schools, from their architectural form and physical systems, to the impact the buildings have on the health and well-being of the children and adults who occupy them. Green Schools will remain on view through January 5, 2014.
More than 60 million Americans spend their days in K-12 school buildings. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has estimated that 25,000 school buildings now in use are in need of extensive repair or replacement, and that thousands of these schools are circulating air that is unsafe to breathe. With the very real problems of overcrowding, age, budget crises, and inconsistent results facing school districts across the country, many green visions have fallen short.
It is against this backdrop that the National Building Museum presents Green Schools. The exhibition will look at schools from across the country—public and private; large and small—that are taking advantage of new technologies and ideas to improve their infrastructure. It will be broadly divided into two thematic sections. The first will focus on how schools are “getting green” by examining the architecture, landscape, and sustainable systems for air, light, and water, while weighing the cost and environmental benefits of construction. The second section will concentrate on how schools are “staying green,” taking a look at curricula, garden programs, composting and recycling, transportation, green cleaning, and other issues.
The centerpiece of the exhibition will be the installation of the award-winning Sprout Space™ classroom, outdoors on the Museum’s west lawn. Designed as a way for schools to expand sustainably and as one way to accommodate millions of students who are currently being taught in temporary classrooms, Sprout Space™ is the first net-zero energy, high-performance, modular classroom available for distribution at a national level. It is a three-dimensional teaching tool that integrates many active and passive green strategies into its design resulting in reduced operating costs, increased student and teacher satisfaction, and a healthier indoor learning environment. While the exhibition is on view, the Museum will conduct many of its school programs in the Sprout Space™ classroom.
“Green Schools continues the National Building Museum’s decade-long exploration of meaningful, sustainable practices in all sectors of the built environment,” says Chase W. Rynd, executive director of the National Building Museum. “Exploring how schools across the country are incorporating green strategies—balancing the constraints of shrinking budgets with prudent environmental standards—provides us with valuable insight as we look toward constructing the next generation of school buildings.”
"Sprout Space represents Perkins+Will's commitment to our belief in the power of architecture and design to change people's lives for the better," said Phil Harrison, CEO of Perkins+Will. "With its unique combination of innovative design and cost effectiveness, Sprout Space brings a real world solution to the widespread, real world problem of students learning in sub-standard temporary environments.”
"Six years ago when the U.S. Green Building Council launched the National Green Schools Campaign, a green schools exhibition at the National Building Museum seemed like a far off dream," said Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green Schools at USGBC. "It's amazing to see how far this movement has come, and we're grateful to our partners at the museum for putting it on the map."
During the run of the Green Schools exhibition, the museum will present a series of programs augmenting the show’s themes. These topics include: connecting students’ health with green construction; the importance of healthy, locally sourced food menus in school cafeterias; linking sprawl and the declining number of children who walk to school; and a close up look at green building technologies including the use of geo-thermal cooling systems and landscape architecture which captures storm water. In addition, the museum will offer tours of local sustainable schools for an up close look at green design in action.
Green Schools is generously sponsored by Perkins+Will; Triumph Modular; Whole Foods Market; Satellite Shelters, Inc.; Forbo Flooring Systems; The Kendeda Fund; Multivista Construction Documentation; The Tower Companies; Interface, Inc.; McGraw-Hill Construction; Nixon Peabody LLP; The Sherwin-Williams Company; Gilbane Building Company; Perkins Eastman; Waterless Co.; Hord Coplan Macht; Kramer Consulting Services, PC; and Quinn Evans Architects. McGraw-Hill Construction is the official media partner of Green Schools.
Generous in-kind contributions to the exhibition have been provided by Modular Air, Inc.; Mark Line Industries, Inc.; School Specialty, Inc.; Multivista Construction Documentation; Bison Innovative Products; Kawneer Company, Inc.; Modular Genius, Inc.; MooreCo, Inc. DBA Best-Rite and Balt; AGC Flat Glass North America; Hord Coplan Macht; Forbo Flooring Systems; Acuity Brands, Inc; Bretford; Smith Systems™; Riverbend Nursery, Inc.; TOTO USA; The Sherwin-Williams Company; Interface, Inc.; SAGE Electrochromics, Inc.; Waterless Co.; Excel Dryer, Inc.; Advanced Solar Technologies; and Solatube International, Inc.
Visit the Green Schools web page.
Media Contact
For more information about the exhibition, press images, and related programs, please contact Emma Batson, 202.272.2448 ext. 3458 and ebatson@nbm.org or Sara Durr, 202.215.1811, sara@durrcommunications.com.
Press Preview
A press preview of Green Schools is scheduled for Thursday, February 28, 2013, from 10 am to noon. During the preview, a Washington-area school group will visit Sprout Space and be available for photos. To RSVP, please contact Emma Batson, 202.272.2448, ext. 3458 or ebatson@nbm.org.
The National Building Museum is America’s leading cultural institution dedicated to advancing the quality of the built environment by educating people about its impact on their lives. Through its exhibitions, educational programs, online content, and publications, the Museum has become a vital forum for the exchange of ideas and information about the world we build for ourselves. Public inquiries: 202.272.2448 or visit www.nbm.org. Connect with us on Twitter: @BuildingMuseum and Facebook.
