Reinventing the Portable Classroom

Changing student enrollment has led many school districts to rely on portable classroom units for overflow classes. Portable classrooms have traditionally been poor performers when it comes to energy and the environment. “These units use about three times as much energy per area as the school building itself and often compromise students’ and teachers’ comfort in terms of lighting, temperature, acoustics, indoor air quality, and connectivity to the main facility,” according to the Montgomery County Public School District, in Rockville, Maryland.

These concerns led the district, in partnership with the Council for Educational Facility Planners and the Emerging Green Builders chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), to sponsor a competition to design “a prototype for a prefabricated classroom unit that makes the learning cottage ‘the cool place to be.’” Design teams were encouraged to meet high standards of durability, safety, and health and to use USGBC’s LEED^® Rating System as a roadmap to achieving environmental responsibility.

Designs were evaluated according to their performance in the following categories: accessibility, site design, connection to the outside, stormwater management, portability, daylighting, acoustics, recycled materials, ease of maintenance, security, LEED rating, energy efficiency, renewable energy, program compliance, cleanability, innovation, regional context, cost-effectiveness, fun factor and appeal to kids, and comfortable learning environment.

Winners were selected in three categories carrying different submittal requirements: K-12 students with mentors; emerging green builders, or college students and professionals with less than five years of post-graduation working experience; and manufacturers and architecture and engineering professionals. The winners in the professional category are listed below. Details on all of the winners are online at www.mcps.k12.md.us/departments/facilities/greenschoolsfocus/dc.html.

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Cliff Cort of Triumph Modular, in Littleton, Massachusetts, with

Laurie Robert,

Mark Dolny, AIA;

Philip Laird, AIA, of ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and

NRB, Inc., in Grimsby,Ontario, took first place.

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Marcie Meditch and

Ademola Awofisayo of Meditch Murphey Architects, in Chevy Chase, Maryland, won second place.

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Alan Duer of Blazer Industries, Inc., in Aumsville, Oregon, won third place.

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Peter Doo, AIA,

Rolf Haarstad, AIA, and Pavlina Ilieva, Assoc. AIA, of Hord Coplan Macht, Inc., in partnership with William Scottsman, Inc., both based in Baltimore, won an honorable mention.