Portland Public Schools this past fall began employing Smart Academic Green Environment () classrooms developed at Portland State University, and they’re already receiving raves.

“We love them,” Lincoln High School Principal Peyton Chapman said. “As soon as you walk in the door, the air is circulating at the most comfortable temperature. It is noticeably different.”

Lincoln High School’s previous portable classrooms burned down in summer 2015.

“The new portables are so much better,” Chapman said. “If anyone had been in the old buildings when they caught fire, they would have had one exit. These have multiple exits – you can get out through windows – and they are portable.”

The SAGE classrooms are the brainchild of Portland State University architecture professors and married couple Margarette Leite and Sergio Palleroni. They sought to design a classroom that is both efficient and healthy for students.

“We are looking to make what is out there better,” Leite said.

The Corvallis School District in 2014 became the first in Oregon to start using the SAGE classrooms. Since then, 33 schools in Oregon or Washington have put 60 to use. Lincoln is the first high school as well as the first Portland school to use them.

“We hope that the ($750 million construction) bond will pass in May,” Chapman said. “Then we will be rebuilding our building and these can be moved to another school that needs them. This way there is no waste in investment.”

Two buildings were purchased to serve Lincoln High School. Each building has four SAGE classrooms and two bathrooms. They cost approximately $150 per square foot installed, so that an average 900-square-foot building costs $142,500. A similar, traditional portable classroom costs approximately $110 per square foot.

The higher price tag does cover more amenities. For instance, SAGE classrooms have windows that allow in four times as much light as those in a standard modular classroom. Upgrades are always being made, Leite said.

“It’s been in the small things,” she said. “We have mainly worked on ways to make it more affordable.”

SAGE ventilation systems have perhaps improved the most from earlier versions. Newer systems can bring in up to 600 cubic feet of fresh air per minute. The rooms’ energy efficient systems can bring down energy usage by as much as one-third.

“We are always looking to keep getting better,” Leite said. “We are always looking at changing systems as the prices are getting higher.”

The designers have also added 30-inch overhangs to keep water off of structures’ walls and increase their life spans. A phase change material in the walls traps cool air during the night, and then releases it into the building during warm days. Also, warm air is trapped during the day and then released into the building during cool nights. As a result, heating and cooling costs are reduced. The goal is to keep rooms’ temperatures from 70 degrees to 72.

“The building was designed to run without any additional heat or AC,” said Patrick Allen, major project sales representative at Pacific Mobile, which distributes the SAGE classrooms in Oregon, Washington, California and Idaho. “The energy recovery ventilator brings in fresh air. Then, there is a mini-split system to heat or cool the building as needed.”

Improved flooring also makes the structures more portable than earlier versions. That was a key selling point for use in Portland.

“Our old structures would have fallen apart if we tried to move them to another school,” Chapman said. “It was also important to have a sustainable classroom for our students and the next school that uses them.”

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