Author: Caroline Dolan

Directly above the central spine is the school’s two-story media center, envisioned as a hub for research and study. Here, students can engage in individual or group project work in a range of seating options, utilize technology resources, attend class in a closed-off conference room, or find a private nook for reading.

Lightwells penetrate the media center, creating countertop workspaces similar to those in the humanities and STEAM wings. The lightwells, along with skylights and expansive windows, ensure the media center is a bright, lively, and welcoming space for students and faculty alike.

Scheduled to open in early 2025, Phase Three will include a new athletics wing and black box theater. Follow along on the AHS building project website for frequent construction updates.

Educational programming and energy-efficient engineering go hand in hand at the new Arlington High School, where HMFH led an extensive coordination and collaboration process between school officials, engineers and community members to achieve an efficient and comfortable learning environment. As everyday beneficiaries of well-designed spaces, occupants often take for granted the many building systems working together seamlessly to ensure comfort, health and wellbeing. The new all-electric Arlington High School will demonstrate this concept when its first phase opens in February of 2022.

An extensive educational program, complex phased construction schedule, and polluted soils on site that prohibited the use of geothermal wells, required the design team to think critically and creatively to produce a facility in line with Arlington’s ambitious sustainability goals. The solution balances the use of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) systems–which supply space heating and cooling throughout the school without relying on fossil-fuels–with a carefully zoned educational plan that limits the hours of operation for these units, reducing the 408,000 sf school’s energy use to an impressive pEUI of 24.7.

The team’s proactive approach to sustainable design involved close collaboration with school administration and faculty early in the design process to identify the optimal configuration of educational program and building systems zoning layout. Grouping programs with similar operational schedules allows entire zones of mechanical systems to be turned off when the spaces are not occupied, limiting excess energy use in the school and contributing to saving 33% in energy costs over baseline.

When the facility is complete in 2024, the new high school will be the largest public building in Arlington and represent a shift in the Town toward a more climate conscious, resilient future.

JQUS serves an urban and predominantly minority student population for whom access to natural light, fresh air, and connections to nature are critical to their health and wellness. The new rooftop is an urban oasis with open space and gardens, where ample plantings filter pollutants for optimal air quality. To ensure that the entire school is isolated from the ambient ground-level air pollution in this transit-oriented location, fresh air ventilation is captured and distributed from roof level to interior spaces on floors below.

To prioritize mental health through design, a mindfulness garden provides a calm, contemplative space complete with meadow grasses, meandering stone paths, and intermittent benches. Here, urban students have a safe, relaxing, and peaceful place to unwind in a natural setting.

Beyond programmatic benefits, the JQUS green roof significantly improves the building’s environmental sustainability.

The planting system absorbs precipitation to slow stormwater runoff and lowers both the rooftop and surrounding air temperature to mitigate heat island effect and reduce the building’s cooling loads (as well as associated costs). JQUS’s rooftop contains a blend of native plant species, promoting biodiversity in its urban environment.

The new Chapman Middle School serves 1,470 students in grades six through eight with state-of-the-art learning and gathering spaces. As the largest middle school in Massachusetts, student well-being was a focal point of the design and drove many of the project’s sustainability goals, from fostering a sense of belonging for all students to encouraging a healthy lifestyle.

With Bristol Aggie’s unique curriculum rooted in science, environmental, and agriculture-based education, the new Center for Science and the Environment (CSE) is a living-learning lab that promotes hands-on research and experiential learning. Close ties between the school and the landscape led to sustainability goals focused on water conservation, which now reduce indoor water use in the CSE by 68%.

The renovation and addition to Bristol Aggie’s primary academic building, Gilbert Hall, showcases the environmental benefits of reusing existing buildings. The 1935 structure was redesigned to accommodate modern learning environments, maintain the building’s original character, and save on embodied carbon compared to new construction.