A new 22,000-sf expansion project on Sonoma Academy’s 34-acre campus at the base of Taylor Mountain will add key academic, social, and cultural spaces to the independent college prep high school. The two-level education facility will act as the first of a two-phase campus transformation project.
San Francisco-based WRNS Studio designed the project to help achieve Sonoma Academy’s vision of creating a campus that will teach students about social, environmental, and food justice while fostering a hands-on teaching philosophy. The two-level facility is known as Grange & Studios. The top floor, which represents “The Grange” of Grange & Studios, has a teaching and commercial kitchen with a dining hall and outdoor learning spaces with flower, herb, and fruit tree gardens. The lower level, The Studios, has traditional STEM-inspire shops, art classrooms, technology rooms, media production studios, offices, and meeting spaces. The facility also has a vegetation-covered rooftop.
The green roof and cascading planters filter stormwater and rain water while a geo-exchange system, watershed block made with local soil, and photovoltaic panels to produce enough energy to offset the demand by over 15% mean that, when completed in July 2017, the buildings will be LEED Platinum, an Education Pilot for Well Building, and a Living Building Challenge candidate.
The second phase of the project will be focused on a new 450-seat performing arts theater and conservatory. Funding for the project has been provided entirely by private donations.
Related Stories
| Jun 11, 2013
Building a better box: High-bay lab aims for net-zero [2013 Building Team Award winner]
Building Team cooperation and expertise help Georgia Tech create a LEED Platinum building for energy science.
| Jun 7, 2013
First look: University of Utah's ‘teaching hospital for law’
The University of Utah broke ground on its cutting-edge College of Law building, which will facilitate new approaches to legal education based on more hands-on learning and skills training.
| Jun 5, 2013
USGBC: Free LEED certification for projects in new markets
In an effort to accelerate sustainable development around the world, the U.S. Green Building Council is offering free LEED certification to the first projects to certify in the 112 countries where LEED has yet to take root.
| Jun 3, 2013
Construction spending inches upward in April
The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during April 2013 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $860.8 billion, 0.4 percent above the revised March estimate of $857.7 billion.
| May 23, 2013
Supertall 'Sky City' will house 4,400 families in Changsha, China
Broad Sustainable Building has completed a long and arduous approval process, and is starting excavation and construction on Sky City in June, 2013. The proposed "world's tallest building" will be a mixed-use project that could accommodate life and work needs of up to 30,000 people.
| May 17, 2013
University labs double as K-12 learning environments
Increasingly, college and university research buildings are doing double duty as homes for K-12 STEM programs. Here’s how to create facilities that captivate budding scientists while keeping faculty happy.
| May 15, 2013
Center for Green Schools, Architecture for Humanity release new tool for green schools
The 70-page guide demystifies the processes of identifying building improvement opportunities and finance and implementation strategies.
| May 1, 2013
Groups urge Congress: Keep energy conservation requirements for government buildings
More than 350 companies urge rejection of special interest efforts to gut key parts of Energy Independence and Security Act
| Apr 30, 2013
Tips for designing with fire rated glass - AIA/CES course
Kate Steel of Steel Consulting Services offers tips and advice for choosing the correct code-compliant glazing product for every fire-rated application. This BD+C University class is worth 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
| Apr 30, 2013
First look: North America's tallest wooden building
The Wood Innovation Design Center (WIDC), Prince George, British Columbia, will exhibit wood as a sustainable building material widely availablearound the globe, and aims to improve the local lumber economy while standing as a testament to new construction possibilities.