Net-Zero Middle School to Be Built Outside of Houston

A new middle school, just outside of Houston, will have a net zero design, meaning the building will produce as much energy as it consumes. Corgan, the architecture firm that designed the school, presented the latest schematics at a Fort Bend ISD school board meeting on Sept. 16.

The new middle school located in Missouri City will include about 90,000 square feet of solar panels on the roof and overhangs.

The new middle school located in Missouri City will include about 90,000 square feet of solar panels on the roof and overhangs. The energy produced by the solar panels will be converted on-site and sent to the power company who will give the school credit for the power it produces, reported Community Impact Newspaper.  

“We are going to achieve net zero by using renewable energy resources and an enhanced building envelope that will reduce the heating and cooling load on this building,” said AJ Sustaita, an education architecture project manager at Corgan.

The 2018 FBISD bond election included funds for the new middle school. The school district approved Corgan to prepare design and construction documents for the school in December. The proposed project budget is more than $10 million.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Electrifying Bus Fleets

    Now is an excellent time for K-12 “yellow” school buses, college campus transportation, and public transit systems to transition to zero-emission electric buses instead of traditional gas or diesel-powered models.

  • Texas A&M Breaks Ground on New Space Institute

    The Texas A&M University Space Institute recently broke ground next to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, according to a news release. The Nov. 15 groundbreaking ceremony followed the Nov. 7 approval by the Texas A&M University System’s Board of Regents of $200 million for the facility’s construction.

  • Spaces4Learning Launches 2025 Education Design Showcase

    Spaces4Learning is now accepting submissions for the 2025 Education Design Showcase! Launched in 1999, the program celebrates innovative and practical solutions in planning, design, and construction.

  • Georgia State University Plans Campus Transformation

    Georgia State University in Atlanta, Ga., recently received an $80-million gift that will go toward the largest campus transformation project in university history, according to a news release. The contribution from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation will go toward a planned $107 million in campus upgrades across nine projects in downtown Atlanta.

Digital Edition