New School Blends Historic Tradition with New Learning Environments, Energy-Saving Innovation

The Town of Brookline, Mass., held a ribbon-cutting celebration in mid October for the new Coolidge Corner School, marking a significant step towards solving the town’s enrollment growth pressures. Local officials, Brookline Public Schools administrators, teachers, and students, joined representatives from the Massachusetts School Building Authority to cut the ceremonial ribbon and tour the sparkling new teaching and learning environment for 1,000 students.

Brookline Coolidge Corner Elementary School

The 227,000-square-foot expansion and restoration project was designed by Cambridge-based HMFH Architects and includes full-scale renovation of the school’s historic 1913 building, two new academic wings that provide small-scale learning communities, and an array of new outdoor learning environments.

The Coolidge Corner School is the town’s largest elementary school and a beloved community resource in the heart of Brookline’s Coolidge Corner neighborhood. The school frames a large public courtyard on Harvard Street that includes the historic Edward Devotion House, a landmark colonial residence dating back to 1740. Generations of Brookline schoolchildren attended the school, formerly called the Edward Devotion School, including a young John F. Kennedy in the 1920s.

The new school, with its daylit, open interiors and other sustainable design features inside and out, is one of the most energy-efficient schools in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A large monitor at the entry displays energy use, detailing the building’s systems, conservation measures, and sustainable design performance metrics. “From our earliest planning conversations, there was a purposeful commitment by the Town of Brookline and the design team to reach a new level of energy innovation and to produce a healthy, sustainable learning environment for students,” said Pip Lewis AIA, LEED AP, the HMFH principal leading the project.

Thanks to its high-performance design and advanced building systems, the school’s projected energy use is among the lowest in the state at 23.3 kBtu/sf/year EUI, a benchmark for measuring achieved efficiency. The average EUI metric for k-12 schools in the U.S. is 82 kBtu/sf/year. Design features that contribute to the school’s energy efficiency include reducing the need for artificial lighting by bringing in an abundance of natural light, using interior glazing and skylights, and employing sun shades and light shelves that bounce light throughout the interior. High-efficiency heating and cooling equipment and occupancy-based lighting controls further reduce energy demand.

The school’s site serves as a transition between a residential and a commercial neighborhood and includes walking paths, age-specific play structures, outdoor classrooms, a rain garden, student gardens, and natural play features that are used by students throughout the day. Learning happens everywhere in the school and throughout the outdoor environment, blurring the line between learning and play and between school play space and urban park.

As a neighborhood school restored and expanded in place, the Coolidge Corner School again welcomes parents and students who for generations walked to school from the surrounding neighborhoods.

Featured

  • VLK Architects Receives Caudill Award for Texas Learning Center

    VLK Architects recently received the Caudill Award for its work on the Dr. Jim F. Chadwell Administration Building and Discovery Lab Learning Center for Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD in Fort Worth, Texas, according to a news release. The award is the highest honor from the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) / Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Exhibit of School Architecture yearly competition.

  • Fellowes Launches New Textile Collection

    Fellowes Contract Interiors recently partnered with Momentum Textiles & Wallcoverings to launch a new line of high-end-design, cost-effective textiles, according to a news release. Part of Momentum Textiles’ Kickstart collection, the new selection offers high-quality and versatile textiles for both smaller budgets and the early design phase of larger projects.

  • IFMA Appoints New President & CEO

    The International Facility Management Association (IFMA), based in Houston, Texas, recently announced its appointment of Michael Geary, CAE, as its new President & CEO, according to a news release. Geary’s previous role was as CEO of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) and the SMPS Foundation.

  • Massachusetts Charter School Opens New Academic Building

    The Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School (AMSA) in Marlborough, Mass., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new academic building, according to a news release. The 17,000-square-foot space will serve as a classroom and science lab building for the student population of almost a thousand in grades 6–12.