At Greenbuild 2012, education and sustainability took center stage with the arrival of the SAGE modular classroom, designed and built by a team from Oregon. The demonstration facility, which was on display November 13-15 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, was conceived and co-sponsored by Building Design+Construction and its parent organization, SGC Horizon LLC.
The genesis of the project came from the Department of Architecture at Portland (Ore.) State University, in particular Assistant Professor Margarette Leite. In examining the role of architecture in education spaces, she and her students recognized a growing need for sustainably designed classrooms nationwide.
While modular classrooms—or “portables,” as they’re commonly known—have been around for decades, some practitioners in the modular building industry feel they have not been used to their full potential. “School district administrators typically look at this kind of space as a temporary fix,” says Garth Haakenson, President/CEO of Pacific Mobile Structures, Chehalis, Wash. “But the reality is that these buildings stay up for 20 to 30 years. When they’re built to a minimum standard and not maintained over that time period, the quality of the classroom deteriorates and you have kids learning in a substandard environment.”
SETTING OUT ON A MISSION
With that historical background in mind, Leite and her students set about changing the design of modular classrooms—to create sustainably designed, factory-built classrooms that were good for children’s health and well-being, but also practical. “The only way to do that is to find a way to keep it affordable for school districts,” she said.
As the project began to pick up steam, the staff of Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber stepped in. The modular classroom was named an official “Oregon Solutions” project. This program, established in 2011, promotes “sustainable solutions to community-based problems that support economic, environmental, and community objectives, and are built through the collaborative efforts of businesses, government, and nonprofit organizations.”
With the governor’s backing secured and the project becoming more and more of a reality, the team grew to include Portland State’s College of Engineering, and Institute for Sustainable Solutions, in conjunction with AIA Portland. There was just one problem—the team didn’t have a buyer for the proposed classroom. “We were going to try and raise money for it if we had to,” said Leite. “Luckily a buyer stepped in and made it happen pretty quickly.”
That buyer was Haakenson and Pacific Mobile Structures, which has a branch in Oregon City, near Portland. With funding secured, modular builder Blazer Industries, Aumsville, Ore., got to work. “I think it was October 5 or so that we actually started construction,” said Kendra Cox, Blazer Industries’ Project Manager. “The building shipped [to San Francisco] November 9. We were working on the design, working on the pricing, every single last-minute item. It was pretty hectic.”
They called it SAGE, for Smart Academic Green Environment. The SAGE modular classroom came in at $77 a square foot in construction costs, about half that for conventionally designed and constructed “portables,” proving that sustainability and affordability were not incompatible.
THE CLASSROOM AS TEACHING TOOL
The shortage of high-quality classrooms is a national problem, said Sergio Palleroni, Professor of Architecture at Portland State and chief designer of the SAGE classroom. “Coming to the Greenbuild conference, everybody was feeling, ‘OK, we’re having this national crisis, what do we do about it?’” said Palleroni, a Senior Fellow at PSU’s Center for Sustainable Solutions and a founder and faculty member of the federally funded Green Building Research Lab.
While the entire Building Team was excited about the generous feedback they received from Greenbuild attendees while the classroom was on display at Moscone, they were equally interested in the goal of opening people’s eyes to the potential of mobile classrooms.
Haakenson said it was important to get AEC professionals and the public to see that mobile structures could be more than portable classrooms. “There are a lot of interesting features about this structure that are completely different than anyone’s previous expectations of a portable classroom,” he says. Changing the stereotype of the modular classroom was a key component of the SAGE team’s strategy.
TAKING THE CONCEPT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
With a strong first showing at Greenbuild behind them, the team now hopes that this is just the start of a revolution in the creation of sustainably designed and constructed modular classrooms.
“There’s a lot of interest nationwide, so the next step is to start addressing requests from other states and figure out how to find manufacturers and contractors that believe in the project,” said Blazer Industries’ Cox.
Portland State’s Leite recommends that future modular classroom Building Teams collaborate early and often. “A lot of projects don’t make it because they’re not efficient to build, so they become too expensive,” she says. “That’s why it’s important to start working together right from the beginning.” +
Related Stories
| Mar 26, 2014
Zaha Hadid's glimmering 'cultural hub of Seoul' opens with fashion, flair [slideshow]
The new space, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, is a blend of park and cultural spaces meant for the public to enjoy.
| Mar 26, 2014
First look: Lockheed Martin opens Advanced Materials and Thermal Sciences Center in Palo Alto
The facility will host advanced R&D in emerging technology areas like 3D printing, energetics, thermal sciences, and nanotechnology.
| Mar 25, 2014
Sydney breaks ground on its version of the High Line elevated park [slideshow]
The 500-meter-long park will feature bike paths, study pods, and outdoor workspaces.
Sponsored | | Mar 25, 2014
Johns Hopkins chooses SLENDERWALL for a critical medical facility reconstruction
After decades of wear, the hand-laid brick envelope of the Johns Hopkins nine-story Nelson/Harvey inpatient facility began failing. SLENDERWALL met the requirements for renovation.
| Mar 25, 2014
World's tallest towers: Adrian Smith, Gordon Gill discuss designing Burj Khalifa, Kingdom Tower
The design duo discusses the founding of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architects and the design of the next world's tallest, Kingdom Tower, which will top the Burj Khalifa by as much as a kilometer.
| Mar 24, 2014
Shigeru Ban receives 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize
Shigeru Ban, a Tokyo-born, 56-year-old architect with offices in Tokyo, Paris, and New York, is rare in the field of architecture. He designs elegant, innovative work for private clients, and uses the same inventive and resourceful design approach for his extensive humanitarian efforts.
| Mar 24, 2014
Snøhetta unveils plans for serpentine mountain hotel
The winding hotel and apartment building will be built between the mountains and the sea in remote Glåpen, Norway.
| Mar 24, 2014
Frank Lloyd Wright's S.C. Johnson Research Tower to open to the public—32 years after closing
The 14-story tower, one of only two Wright-designed high-rises to be built, has been off limits to the public since its construction in 1950.
Sponsored | | Mar 21, 2014
Kameleon Color paint creates color-changing, iridescent exterior for Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral
Linetec finishes Firestone’s UNA-CLAD panels, achieving a one-of-a-kind, dynamic appearance with the first use of Valspar’s new Kameleon Color
| Mar 21, 2014
Forget wood skyscrapers - Check out these stunning bamboo high-rise concepts [slideshow]
The Singapore Bamboo Skyscraper competition invited design teams to explore the possibilities of using bamboo as the dominant material in a high-rise project for the Singapore skyline.
