Renovation of Casey Middle School leads to LEED Platinum certification

BOULDER — The rebuilding of Casey Middle School in Boulder is a combination of sustainability and historic preservation.

A renovation project that began in 2010 incorporated two façades from the original 1924 structure, resulting in an intriguing — and challenging — project for Fort Collins-based RB+B Architects Inc.
Its sustainable features helped the school achieve LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Casey is the second middle school in the country to earn the highest level of certification and the first in the state of Colorado.

“We worked with a design advisory team comprised of community members and representatives from the city and the (Boulder Valley) school district,” said Derek Young, architect with RB+B and the project manager for the Casey project. “What we heard is that the building was outdated and losing students to more modern schools in the district, but that the historical nature of the existing structure was a meaningful connection to the neighborhood.”

Working with Saunders Construction Inc. of Centennial, the RB+B team devised a system that shored up the south and west exterior walls while the rest of the structure was demolished. Not an easy task, considering the site’s expansive clay soil.

Groundbreaking achievement

“This is not something that has been done before,” Young explained. “It required designing and engineering a way to keep the walls intact and stable during the demo and the building. It was definitely one of the more challenging aspects of the entire project.”

The end result is a 106,458-square-foot, three-story, 34-classroom school that features solar panels for photovoltaic energy, which also double as a covering for bicycle parking, adding a green roof and replacing asphalt surfaces with concrete to help reduce the heat-island effect. Heat-island effects occur when developed urban and suburban areas retain more heat than rural areas.

Underground parking for faculty and staff reduces on-street parking issues. Installation of natural daylighting with automatic dimming systems, a ground source heat pump for both heating and cooling the building aid in reduced energy costs. Repurposed original gymnasium flooring serves as strategically placed, graphic wall treatments. A food pulper in the kitchen replaces garbage disposals and compresses food waste that is later composted.

Buildings earn LEED certification based on a rating system that measures environmental impact and human benefits. Projects are scored in several categories to achieve certification at one of four levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. In order to earn the highest level, a project must score more than 80 points out of a total of 110 possible points.

Costs to design and build the new school totaled $33 million and was funded in part by a bond issue approved in 2006 by Boulder Valley voters. The Boulder city council contributed $1.8 million for sustainable upgrades to the original design, which would have earned LEED Gold certification.

It took three years to complete the rebuild project, including research, design, demolition and building. Retaining the original façades added approximately $500,000 to the overall costs, which were approved by the design advisory team.

Energy-saving systems

While the solar panels only account for less than 3 percent of the building’s electrical energy use, banks of windows in all four elevations and more than 100 Solatubes, which direct natural sunlight throughout the school, have helped to keep electricity costs even in the much larger building. An automatic dimming system synchronizes electrical light with natural light, ensuring efficient usage.
The ground source heat pump provides nearly 90 percent of the school’s heating and cooling. The system consists of vertically drilled, buried piping and closed-loop boreholes that transfers heat to and from the ground heat exchanger with circulating heat-transfer fluid.

Depending on the season, the building’s heat pumps either rejects the heat in the warm summertime or accepts it in the winter.

Additional standalone gas-powered units were installed for use in the gymnasium and kitchen, where a more immediate heating and cooling response is necessary. The ground source heat pump was built underneath the football field, which was covered with an artificial turf, which reduces the need for water. Maintenance reduction equates to lower air pollution from a riding lawn mower’s two-stroke gas engine.

Casey Middle enrollment has increased to 600 students as more families have opted for their neighborhood school rather than choicing-out. This resurgence has helped to decrease vehicular traffic to other parts of town as students walk and ride their bikes the few blocks to school. Increased traffic was a concern for residents and a redesigned parking and drop-off area improves efficiency during high-traffic times, alleviating their fears.

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