Nueva School Science and Environmental Center Tour

2023 AIA COTE® Top Ten Award
2024 SSMC Green Building Award

Nueva School Science and Environmental Center

The zero net carbon Science and Environmental Center is a multi-dimensional threshold through which students and teachers are invited to explore the natural world. It supports the school’s environmental citizenship program with eight flexible science labs and associated support spaces – gathering students from grades K through 12 to discover their interconnections with natural systems.

Linked indoor and outdoor learning spaces serve as a living lab, where students practice low-carbon living, conduct environmental and social studies, and debate solutions to pressing environmental challenges. A portal through the building provides a literal threshold to wild open space beyond.

Image Credit: Bruce Damonte

The project carefully weaves multiple sustainable strategies together, connecting school culture to place, creating education spaces that inspire lifelong learning while showing reverence for the natural world. A “Canopy Walk” provides universal access from the upper campus above a restored oak woodland habitat.

 The building offers perspectives from macro to micro: from expansive views of the Bay Area to microscopic views of native life from the site. It is 100% electric and emits zero CO², producing all energy required on-site annually. A narrow floorplate allows for ample daylighting, views and natural ventilation, demonstrating how buildings can work in harmony with their ecosystems.

 AIA National:  COTE Top Ten Award
The award-winning sustainable design of the Science and Environmental Center creates a net zero carbon learning center to foster social acuity and environmental citizenship in the imaginative young minds of its students.  Read More >

 Sustainable San Mateo County: 2024 Green Building Award Winner: The Nueva School’s Science and Environmental Center, which opened in 2021, supports the school’s evolving mission of sustainability and environmental stewardship as a foundational pillar of student education.  Read More >

PRESENTERS

JASEN BOHLANDER, AIA, LEED AP, Senior Associate | Following his interest in craft, detail, and the desire to work with clients who do honorable work, Jasen joined LMS^A  in 2005. Jasen has focused on quality assurance and ensuring project details are implemented during construction. Jasen was the project architect for two of the firm’s prominent education projects, the Nueva School Science and Environmental Center and the Sacred Heart School Science and Student Life Center.  Bringing together a commitment to sustainability and design excellence, both schools were recognized as AIA COTE Top Ten Green projects. The Science and Student Life Center was also the first LEED for Schools Platinum certified building in the nation. Jasen was also the project manager for Firehouse No. 1, the first new firehouse to be built in San Francisco since the 1970’s, and San Francisco’s North Beach Branch Library. Jasen is a registered architect in the state of California, and a LEED Accredited Professional, with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Ian Ashcraft-Williams, AIA, LEED AP, NOMA is an Associate at Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects. With a background in architecture and urban design, Ian is driven to create sustainable projects grounded in a community-centered approach. His work has ranged from learning environments to affordable and supportive housing. His recent project work includes the Nueva School Science and Environmental Center, recognized by AIA National’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten Green Projects. He is currently overseeing constructon on the mass timber Sunnydale Community Center, the heart of the redeveloped Sunnydale HOPE SF neighborhood in San Francisco. Ian is a registered architect in California and an active member of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA).

Alexis Karolides, AIA is Point Energy Innovations’ Sustainability Practice Leader. A Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC), she helps clients achieve optimally efficient, comfortable, and healthy, low-carbon projects. Driven to make sustainability mainstream, she’s worked to advance carbon-reduction practices across organizations such as the University of California, Hewlett Packard, Walmart, and Kaiser Permanente. Her focus on zero energy schools led her to win the 2017 ZNE Leadership Award for Green California Schools. Prior to Point Energy, she was Green Development Practice Leader at Rocky Mountain Institute, was a chair of the AIA Committee on the Environment, and co-developed with the Biomimicry Guild the prototype for AskNature.org, which links human design challenges to solutions found in nature.

Learning Objectives

• Learn how a building supports an ecology of learning where students discover and interact outside of the traditional classroom.
• Discover ways architecture connects students to the natural environment.
• Explore effective design strategies for achieving net-zero operational energy and embodied carbon reduction with a cost-conscious budget.
• Examine how the Framework for Design Excellence is incorporated into the design process.

Advance registration is required. Attendance is limited to 50 participants.

AIA Members     $25
Non Members     $40
Students               Free

4:00 – 4:30   Networking / check-in
4:30 – 4:45   Chapter announcement / Presenters’ introduction
4:45 – 5:45   Project presentation
5:45 – 6:30   Building tour

Parking, meeting place and other instructions will be sent prior to the event to those who register.

2 Hr Zero Net Carbon Design Mandatory Continuing Education (ZNCD MCE)

2 HSWs Approved

Images Credited: Richard Barnes