Lenox Dale Montessori School Gains LEED StatusNichole DupontiBerkshires Staff01:20PM / Wednesday, October 06, 2010Print | Email | Corrugated ventilation panels on the exterior of the single-story building allow for better air quality in the classrooms. LENOX, Mass.—the Montessori School of the Berkshires in Lenox Dale is not just a model for education, it is also a model for green building. the 40-acre campus, which houses 80 students (120 at capacity) ages 15 months to 15 years, has recently become the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified Montessori campus in the Northeast. the construction of the $3.5 million, five-classroom facility represents a collaborative effort between the private school and Western Massachusetts Electric co. the goal of this effort, according to WMECo President Peter Clarke, is to create a model for the company's Advanced Building/ Core Performance Program which offers integrative, efficient design strategies to building professionals.
"This is a great opportunity to lead by example," Clarke said while on a tour of the campus Wednesday morning. "It's a way to train a new generation about what's the new norm for energy efficiency." there are still only a handful of LEED-certified schools in Massachusetts, though the state School Building Authority is encouraging public school districts to consider green thinking for new buildings and reconstruction. In North County, Williamstown Elementary School is considered a green school and the North Adams Public Library is LEED certified.
While the toddlers at the school are oblivious to the efficiency of their surroundings, Head of School Todd Covert is sure that the building itself will also offer an education to its young inhabitants.
"This is not just a building, it's a learning tool," he said. "We’re trying to get the point across that this partnership is important to us. looking at the environment is a major piece in Montessori education. Montessori is not divorced from the real world."
In fact, contact with the outside elements was one of the chief concerns of West Stockbridge architect Dana Bixby.
"Each classroom has access to the outdoors," she said. "In truth, it's a very simple building with a very tight envelop. WMECo enabled us to go a little further with our design."
The school, which is built on a concrete, U-shaped slab, contains several sun tubes that balance the amount of natural daylight in the classrooms, carbon-dioxide monitors, corrugated ventilation panels and radiant heat. Additionally, the exterior of the building is equipped with a 2,000-gallon rainwater collection tank that pumps water into the vegetable garden, bio-retention swales and a chicken coop to name a few features. According to landscape architect Robert Akroyd of Greylock Design Associates, the signs of sustainability are everywhere.
“We tried to maximize the building’s capabilities. there is integration between the outdoor and indoor environment,” he said. “It is a sustainable project that will last long into the future."
Already, WMECo has given the school an energy conservation incentive payment of $14,000 and Robert Dvorchik, the company's supervisor for commercial and industrial energy conservation, predicts that the returns will not stop there.
“This is a justifiable return on their investment,” he said. “It all works together. A huge component of this is that you have an architect and a building owner who are committed all the way to energy efficiency.”
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