Treanor Architects

Sustainable Features

A successful 1998 bond election provided funding for the new 60,000 sq ft Langston Hughes Elementary School, the Lawrence School District's fourth three section elementary school, with 21 classrooms for grades 1 through 6. The District preferred a concept of classroom pods, which groups six classrooms around a shared flexible teaching space.

School Board members indicated their interest in sustainable architectural features, and these were carefully incorporated on the basis of their long-term contribution to the building, its users, and the larger community. Sustainable materials are not only cost efficient by reducing maintenance, but they also make the building part of the education process by making environmental ideas visible and touchable for the students.

A combination of different types of windows brings sunlight into all 21 of the "full-time" classrooms, the library and the multipurpose rooms. On a sunny day, these rooms may not need electric lights at all. Where electric light is needed, indirect light fixtures bounce light off the ceiling to create a soft overall glow. Interior finish materials are made of natural materials that are biodegradable, recyclable and long-wearing. For example, linseed oil, powdered cork and car tires in flooring, and wheat straw pressed into wheat board for cabinets.

The school sits on a highest point of the site to cause the least disturbance to the land and the flow of rainwater across it. Native Buffalo grass in the yard will stay short and thick without watering or fertilizing. And it only needs mowing once a year.