Charlottesville Waldorf School in Charlottesville, VA has spent the last twenty-five years educating their students on the importance of taking care of the environment and making strides toward having the “Greenest School in America”. The most recent step toward that goal was to have a new ‘green’ modular classroom built on their campus.

The M Space Solution:

M Space and Charlottesville Waldorf School decided to use MBI’s 2007 Student Green Building Contest Winner’s design as a starting point for their new ‘green’ classroom. Due to time constraints and budget restrictions, certain elements of the original design had to be modified. M Space partnered with the manufacturer in an effort to procure the greenest products and to construct a building that was as similar to the original contest winning design as possible. The final product is an 864 square foot ‘green’ classroom and faculty planning office that was planned, built and delivered in less than 90 days. The building was designed to maximize the available space and make the best use of natural light from windows and sun tunnels. It was carefully placed among the trees to minimize the impact on the landscape, and the colors were chosen to compliment the use and layout of the building.

Thermal Comfort:

The building is equipped with large operable windows on three sides to allow natural ventilation when the weather permits. When climate control is required, a high-efficiency heat pump delivers heating or cooling quietly through low-volume ducts and diffusers. Controls include a humidistat, occupancy sensor, motorized damper and two-stage compressor. Comfortable temperature and humidity are maintained by extra insulation, a moisture barrier and reflective roofing membrane.

Daylighting:

The building was positioned on site to achieve the maximum amount of daylight. Large windows and transom windows over the exterior doors allow ample daylight controlled by mini-blinds that can be adjusted to reflect the light off the ceiling or limit the amount of light that enters when darker conditions are needed. Additionally, sun tunnels installed in the roof bring daylight to the center of the room.

Acoustics

Extra insulation, insulated doors, dual glazed windows with Low E glass and Armstrong “Ultima” 2’ x 4’ acoustical ceiling panels help keep the building quiet, reducing both noise generated inside and outside the building.

Resource Efficiency:

Materials for the building were selected from recycled or recyclable materials as much as possible. Some examples include, interior paperless drywall, exterior cementious siding, ceiling tiles, ceiling grid, floor tile and insulation.