In planning the Burr Elementary School in Fairfield, Conn., the school's building committee heeded the words of William Wordsworth: Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.
They selected construction manager Turner Construction Company, New York, and the New York office of A/E firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to integrate nature on the heavily wooded 15.5-acre site into the day-to-day experiences of the K-5 school's 500 students.
SOM's design realized the town's vision of bringing the outdoors inside by organizing classrooms along the east and west edges of the building. This program allowed existing trees to remain in place, perforating the interior of the plan and creating a series of courtyards that serve as outdoor classrooms.
Separating the bus drop-off on the south side from the parent drop-off on the north obviated the need to build a perimeter road encircling the school. As a result, classrooms face out onto wooded areas instead of parking lots.
Getting the curvilinear courtyard walls right was critical to the success of the project and required the close collaboration of the Building Team and the steel fabricator, United Steel, East Hartford, Conn. The walls were made from insulated glass panels measuring 4×11.5 feet and 4×9.5 feet in an aluminum mullion system. The top of the curving courtyard was defined by a continuous 27-inch-deep curved steel beam that supported the roof decking above and anchored the top edge of the glass wall below.
Related Stories
| Nov 27, 2013
Wonder walls: 13 choices for the building envelope
BD+C editors present a roundup of the latest technologies and applications in exterior wall systems, from a tapered metal wall installation in Oklahoma to a textured precast concrete solution in North Carolina.
| Nov 26, 2013
Construction costs rise for 22nd straight month in November
Construction costs in North America rose for the 22nd consecutive month in November as labor costs continued to increase, amid growing industry concern over the tight availability of skilled workers.
| Nov 25, 2013
Building Teams need to help owners avoid 'operational stray'
"Operational stray" occurs when a building’s MEP systems don’t work the way they should. Even the most well-designed and constructed building can stray from perfection—and that can cost the owner a ton in unnecessary utility costs. But help is on the way.
| Nov 19, 2013
Top 10 green building products for 2014
Assa Abloy's power-over-ethernet access-control locks and Schüco's retrofit façade system are among the products to make BuildingGreen Inc.'s annual Top-10 Green Building Products list.
| Nov 18, 2013
ASSA ABLOY, CertainTeed team up to tackle classroom acoustics
The new alliance has uncovered easily accessible solutions to address these acoustical challenges and reduce the sound reverberation that further complicates noise issues.
| Nov 15, 2013
Greenbuild 2013 Report - BD+C Exclusive
The BD+C editorial team brings you this special report on the latest green building trends across nine key market sectors.
| Nov 13, 2013
Installed capacity of geothermal heat pumps to grow by 150% by 2020, says study
The worldwide installed capacity of GHP systems will reach 127.4 gigawatts-thermal over the next seven years, growth of nearly 150%, according to a recent report from Navigant Research.
| Nov 5, 2013
Net-zero movement gaining traction in U.S. schools market
As more net-zero energy schools come online, school officials are asking: Is NZE a more logical approach for school districts than holistic green buildings?
| Oct 30, 2013
11 hot BIM/VDC topics for 2013
If you like to geek out on building information modeling and virtual design and construction, you should enjoy this overview of the top BIM/VDC topics.
| Oct 28, 2013
Urban growth doesn’t have to destroy nature—it can work with it
Our collective desire to live in cities has never been stronger. According to the World Health Organization, 60% of the world’s population will live in a city by 2030. As urban populations swell, what people demand from their cities is evolving.