New Haven, CT – The Mary M. Hooker Environmental Sciences Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut received the 2011 U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Connecticut Chapter’s Alexion Pharmaceutical’s Award of Excellence and the Commercial and Institutional Award of Honor. BL Companies accepted the award on behalf of the City of Hartford and the design and construction team.
BL Companies served as the lead designer for the team providing architecture, civil engineering, landscape architecture, transportation engineering and land surveying for this
project.
The recently completed Mary M. Hooker Environmental Sciences Magnet School sits on 15 pristine acres near downtown Hartford and is one of the first schools in New England and the first in the City of Hartford to be designed to the USGBC LEED Platinum standard. The existing 75,000 square foot facility was completely renovated along with the addition of 31,000 square feet of new academic areas.
The theme of the school is Education in Energy Efficiency and Environmental Responsibility. The program for the main addition and entrance to the school presented a unique opportunity to develop what is essentially an environmentally focused children’s museum for the students. Natural materials were used such as water, stone and reclaimed wood to surround the students with nature, as well as creating an exciting, innovative and inviting environment. The ecologically and environmentally inspired spaces include a greenhouse, a butterfly vivarium for raising and studying live butterflies, an interactive science theater providing a 28-foot dome for the digital projection of astronomical and meteorological educational programs, and an aquatics laboratory with over 60 tanks for the study of both fresh and salt water species, as well as aquaculture techniques. A 3,500-gallon eco-pond located in the school’s main
lobby complete with plants, trees and a waterfall provides a complete ecological system to enhance the educational programs at the school. The entire school facility is used as a teaching tool, including the boiler room, cogeneration plant and main electrical rooms, which provide observation windows for the students to learn about the systems that run their school.
One of the focuses of the school is recycling; the construction materials used in the project exceed 20% recycled content and 98% of all construction waste was recycled. In addition, two composters have been provided to process biodegradable waste generated by the kitchen and cafeteria; 85% of all new wood products on the project used FSC certified wood, and 95% of the existing buildings walls, floors and roof were reused in this renovation.
The City of Hartford challenged the design team to integrate state-of-the-art mechanical systems into this 60-year-old facility to bring it into the 21st century. Among those systems are high performance features such as a fully integrated digital energy management system with extensive levels of control and monitoring of the interior environment.
“We are proud to receive both awards recognizing excellence in intelligently designed and constructed, high-performance, energy efficient buildings,” states Carolyn Stanworth, President and CEO of BL Companies. “BL Companies is committed to sustainable design and LEED Certification as developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Our staff are trained and experienced in sustainable design and LEED requirements and many of them are LEED Accredited Professionals and Green Associates. We understand the protocols and service demanded for these activities.”