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Washington recently nabbed its first gold.
The first project in the state to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certification is IslandWood, a 55,000-square-foot, 255-acre learning facility on Bainbridge Island.
Designed by Seattle’s Mithun Architects, three of the site’s 40 structures earned the LEED gold stamp. The project was first entered into USGBC’s initial LEED pilot program several years ago and received certification this year after the buildings were completed.
The remainder of the buildings were all designed with green principles in mind and are on track for the highest rating with Kitsap County’s Built Green program.
“We were committed to building a learning center that practiced what we teach,” said Debbi Brainerd, IslandWood founder and board president.
School children in fourth and fifth grade attend IslandWood in a program held Monday through Thursday, which helps satisfy a state-required environmental education course. Adult and family activities are also offered at the learning facility.
The campus has overnight facilities in three lodges, plus a main campus with supplemental buildings and structures such as wetland and bird viewing sites.
“IslandWood’s mission is helping kids become stewards by linking ecology, technology and the arts,” said Bert Gregory, president of Mithun.
Designed to help satisfy that mission, IslandWood’s main center, dining hall and educational studio buildings earned the LEED gold seal.
A welcome center is located in the main center building along with a great hall for lectures and plays, and administration office space.
A 120-year-old salvaged wood beam serves as a major design element in the primary roof truss of the main center and the flooring throughout the building is made from salvaged wood.
The dining hall uses solar-heated water for use in the kitchen, restrooms and laundry operations. Photovoltaic roof panels provide 50 percent of the lighting and electrical needs for the educational studio building, which features an interactive Sustainability Classroom where students can electronically monitor their energy and water consumption.
Water usage and consumption was a key element in the project’s design given that the campus sits on a watershed.
IslandWood wanted to use that as an educational opportunity for the kids to learn about the cycle of water.
“We designed a biological wastewater treatment system that has a tertiary treatment level, which is cleaner than most sanitary treatment plants,” said Gregory.
The system recycles wastewater and reuses it onsite through landscape irrigation and low-flow toilets.
Green and recycled materials were used throughout the campus’ construction.
The Forest Stewardship Council certified half of the wood used in all the buildings, most of which are wood-framed. Plywood and oriented strandboard were used throughout, along with wood taken from the site.
“The trees that had to be cut down to create the campus were shipped off to a mill, came back and were used for trim inside the buildings,” said Gregory.
About 50 percent of the buildings’ exterior siding came from trees cut down on site as well.
Most of the flooring throughout the campus buildings is concrete mixed with fly ash. In some areas, floors are made of cork, bamboo, recycled tires or other salvaged wood.
The kids also had a say in what they wanted to see at IslandWood.
Architects worked with children during workshops to help generate ideas for the campus design.
“One of the things they wanted was an outdoor floating classroom,” said Gregory. “So out on the pond there’s a classroom that floats, where the kids can do water quality testing and other projects.”
A suspension bridge and a treehouse, two other student-generated ideas, are also on campus or in the works, said Gregory.
Contractors on the project included Rafn Co., Drury Construction, Woodside Construction and Sahale Trails.
Construction on IslandWood began in 2000 and is nearly complete. More information is available at http://www.pselc.org.
Portland’s Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center was the Pacific Northwest’s first LEED gold-certified project.