2024 Planet Positive Awards > Education > K-12 Winner

The Nueva School Science and Environmental Center provides eight flexible science labs and support spaces for prekindergarten through eighth-grade students to explore the interconnectedness of humans and the natural world. 

The project incorporates all-electric building systems and is designed to be net-zero energy. The narrow, linear form of the building combined with exterior circulation provides classrooms with ample daylight and natural ventilation, reducing energy loads associated with lighting and mechanical cooling. A high-performance envelope with a low 35 percent window/wall ratio further reduces energy loads.

Energy recovery ventilators provide 100 percent outside air when the classrooms are occupied. LED lighting reduces overall lighting power density by nearly half, while a roof-mounted 70-kilowatt photovoltaic array provides all the energy required for the building on an annual basis.

In addition, the design prioritized embodied carbon reduction through the use of new low-carbon or carbon-sequestering materials, including fly ash concrete, structural steel, gypsum drywall with recycled content, and Cradle to Cradle Certified carpet. Ultralow-flow fixtures and stormwater harvesting help reduce measured potable water use by 89 percent from baseline.

The building was designed to welcome all students and community members. The accessible Canopy Walk connects the new building directly with the Student Center and the heart of the campus across the steeply sloping site, inviting everyone to share the experience of gliding above the restored native oak woodland below. 

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