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FOR THE FUTURE B Y C H R I S T O P H E R G E R B E R , A I A A N D E R I C N A S L U N D, FA I A
© Jim Brady
Located seven miles south of San Diego and seven miles north of Tijuana,
Mexico, High Tech High Chula Vista serves one of the more culturally
diverse zones in the U.S. The school is one of 11 High Tech High (HTH)
public high, middle and elementary schools in San Diego County. All
prepare students to work in high tech industries. The students for these
schools are selected via a nonmeritocratic, ZIP-code based lottery.
S
ome 550 students in grades
9 – 12 attend High Tech
High Chula Vista. The
school is organized into
neighborhoods that are linked to
a gallery that spans the length of
the school. The neighborhoods
consist of adjacent seminar rooms,
© Jim Brady
N AT U R A L V E N T I L AT I O N A N D D AY L I G H T I N G
© Studio E Architects
© Studio E Architects
The building is planned around a series of
courtyards and open walkways that intro-
duce light and ventilation. The courtyards
BUILDING ENVELOPE conditions by adjusting the irrigation are outdoor learning and working spaces,
schedule in real time. and the central spine has become an “arti-
Roof Flow sensors and motorized valves factorium” displaying student work.
Type Polyurethane foam
Overall R-value R-30 can turn off zones immediately
Solar Reflectance Index 103 in the event of a broken head or
Walls line. This also triggers the BMS to Materials and Construction
Type Gypsum wall board + 6 in. metal send an alert to groundskeepers, High Tech High is constructed
stud + fiberglass mat gypsum panel +
fiber cement panel so they can address the issues at with a mix of off-site custom modu-
Overall R-value R-19 their next opportunity. Reclaimed lar, factory-built components and
Glazing Percentage 27.1%
water is used for 100% of the site’s more traditional on-site compo-
Basement/Foundation irrigation needs. nents. Using repetitive parts based
Slab Edge Insulation R-value 0
Basement Wall Insulation R-value Every fixture in the building was on industry standard sizing and
R-19 at crawlspace wall and sill plate scrutinized for water use, durability, assembly line production reduced
Under Slab Insulation R-value 0
and ability to ensure sanitary condi- construction waste and increased
Windows tions. Due to the waterless urinals, construction quality.
U-value 0.69
Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) 0.407 faucet aerators, low-flow shower- The assembly line technique
Visual Transmittance 0.7 heads and low-flow water closets, allowed cost-effective and sched-
Location the project demands 52% less water ule-efficient integration of all
Latitude 32.62 than the EPAct-1992 baseline. This building systems, which saved
Orientation 45°
equates to a savings of $5,000 per on construction labor hours and
year in operating costs. the cutting, fitting and patching
© Jim Brady
reduced on-site construction time, Products with wood, lead, and
as well as air, noise and stormwater mercury were banned from the
pollution associated with on-site project’s structure. Pest and mold Corridors, courtyards and common studio
construction activities. The modules resistance were addressed through spaces become work spaces in support of
this project-based-learning school.
can be easily disassembled, relo- a monolithic foam over metal deck
cated, and reused in the future. The roof, steel moment-frame and metal
modular construction system also stud infill structure, metal deck and minimal school culture ben-
accommodates changes in technol- and exposed concrete floors over an efits. High Tech High partnered
ogy and allows energy and HVAC insulated concrete crawlspace and with the local utility company to
systems to serve only currently fiber-cement siding. lease the rooftop for a photovoltaic
occupied areas. array owned and operated by the
The project incorporates durable, Project Finance local utility. The system feeds the
low-toxicity, low-maintenance With a $175/ft2 budget, it was community grid with renewable
materials such as polished concrete clear that a large renewable energy
floors, steel framing, steel roof and system was not in the base budget
floor decking and fiber-cement because of the long payback period 2011 ENERGY USE,
PRODUCTION
Solar PV
2 0 1 1 O P E R AT I N G C O S T S , Gas Electricity Production
UTILITY CONSUMPTION/PRODUCTION (therms) (kWh) (kWh)
Jan. 746 4,037 11,186
High Tech High operates 11 public char- long-term cost payback and for its dem-
ter schools in San Diego County, and onstrated record of energy and cost sav- Feb. 565 4,196 12,327
the facilities team trends performance ings over time.
Mar. 539 4,590 16,505
parameters, including water and energy Custodial and maintenance costs are
use, to inform operations. HTH Chula also tracked, and HTH Chula Vista’s Apr. 396 4,716 18,562
Vista is the most cost-effective school to costs are less than all other schools in
operate on both a cost per square foot the HTH portfolio. This is attributed to May. 208 6,184 21,037
and cost per student basis. the low-maintenance rubber and polished
This is mostly attributed to the effi- concrete floors, cleanability of the rest- Jun. 285 6,187 21,609*
cient four-pipe fan-coil mechanical sys- rooms, and overall durability of materials
tem, efficient lighting, and ease of reli- from the fiber cement board walls and Jul. 67 4,882 21,157
ance on natural daylighting for spaces. metal panel ceilings to the native and
The four-pipe system was chosen for its adaptive plants. Aug. 62 4,398 19,508
© Jim Brady
Above Left The modular components were
trucked in and placed in a few weeks.
Above Right The school, composed of and daylighting directly impact and designers. Together the team
modular and site-built components, is student performance. This is where efficiently reached consensus on
divided into grade “neighborhoods.” Each the project team focused its efforts how to cost-effectively approach
grade is centered around commons
areas that are located under the raised and these became the metrics with indoor air quality, acoustics and
upswept roofs. which to measure the project. The daylighting.
school uses the Collaborative for The result is many low-tech
energy and the school receives a High Performance Schools (CHIPS) details that perform exceptionally
lease payment as well as a lobby Operations Report Card to evaluate well. Examples include trans-
kiosk with interactive access to the the facility on an ongoing basis. lucent polycarbonate window
array’s data. The project team included an panels, which add light while
Though water, energy, and energy modeling consultant and controlling glare, and insulated
resource efficiency are important for acoustical engineer to analyze perforated metal panel ceilings,
the community, evidence has shown various project attributes and work which absorb sound and reduce
that indoor air quality, acoustics, collaboratively with the contractors reverberation time.
LESSONS LEARNED
Since this particular school opened, scope were critical for everyone to be on Sizing the Server Room Mechanical
High Tech High has opened two more new the same page. Every project has its own System. The mechanical engineer worked
schools based on similar planning and set of considerations, and High Tech High closely with the High Tech High Information
sustainability principles, and is continu- looks forward to leveraging the benefits Technology team to properly design and
ing to grow with at least one new school of modular construction systems in an size the mechanical system to be a three-
per year. To accommodate this growth upcoming elementary school project. ton ductless split system independent of
and ensure best practices are replicated, the main four-pipe mechanical system.
Regulating Central Plant Water Use. A leak
stakeholders constantly evaluate lessons This allowed for the server room to be
detector with an electronic shutoff valve at
learned from data and user feedback. running 24/7, if necessary, even while
the building’s domestic water entry point the rest of the building was in holiday
Modular Construction Systems. A tra- is connected to the BMS. If a faucet leak mode. The mechanical engineer sized the
ditional reason for using modular con- occurs, or a toilet keeps running, the water tonnage of the server room split system
struction systems is to reduce the time to the building shuts off, and alarm noti- to include a 20% factor of safety. And,
between building design and building fication is sent to the facilities team. The just before opening, the local telephone
occupancy. Though the 18-month timeline central plant, however, was not designed company changed the phone system to
was a constraint on this project, High with something similar. The project has fiber-optic relays and added its own server
Tech High would not allow it to trump had a pipe leak in the chilled water supply to the room, along with an uninterruptable
other core project values such as plan- pipe of the four-pipe mechanical system. power supply (UPS). This addition causes
ning flexibility, sustainability, transparency When a small amount of water leaked out the split system to run nearly constantly
and architectural character. A modular of one of the pipes, a refill valve on the in the summer to keep up. High Tech High
construction systems manufacturer helped chiller simply added more. It wasn’t until intends to replace the existing 13.5 SEER
High Tech High understand that these someone noticed a wet spot in a crawl- three-ton unit with a 15 SEER five-ton
systems embodied the core design values space that the issue was found. A flow unit so the unit does not cycle on and off
and reduced the project schedule to a sensor and electronic valve will be added as frequently, and to ensure it can keep
minimum without increased risk to other to the refill valve to monitor how much up with the heat load on even the most
parts of the project. With scopes of work water is being added to the system, so demanding hot summer days.
occurring in parallel, rather than serially, that abnormalities may be caught early.
management of communications and
More than 30% of HTH alumni enter The school’s central commons was site
math or science fields (vs. 17% built and is a place for large gatherings
national rate) and performances.
Conclusion
HTH is the first California public school High Tech High Chula Vista dem-
organization authorized to operate its
own teacher credentialing program. The CHPS ORC provides a report onstrates that high performance,
First charter management organization
card of results and makes sugges- sustainable buildings don’t have to
to operate its own Graduate School tions for improvement. be costly or complicated to achieve
of Education. For example, user surveys showed significant energy savings and to
that some teachers had complaints meet the goals of building users.
Source: www.hightechhigh.org about how the daylighting was over- Unconventional construction and
powering the digital projectors at design methods such as using mod-
Commissioning, Maintenance certain times of the day. Through ular systems and using a crawlspace
and Measurement the CHPS ORC program, lighting and photovoltaic canopy to facilitate
HTH stakeholders participated was measured at different times of natural ventilation can reap signifi-
in enhanced commissioning to the day and subsequent analysis cant benefits. The lessons learned
ensure the project functioned as showed that the excessive light was from HTH Chula Vista will be
intended. This commissioning pro- coming through a series of clere- incorporated in future HTH schools,
cess included traditional energy and story windows. Simple blinds were which will provide unconventional
thermal comfort systems, and other added to the clerestory windows, school environments to challenge
staff-related systems such as irriga- alleviating the issue. and inspire students. •
tion, audio/visual, security, trans- In addition to those factors affect-
portation and storage. ing student performance indoors, ABOUT THE AUTHORS
The school participates in the High Tech High also surveys staff
Collaborative for High Performance and students on transportation to/ Christopher Gerber, AIA, is the direc-
tor of facilities for High Tech High, a
Schools (CHPS) Operations Report from school, lunch program food nonprofit in San Diego dedicated to the
Card (ORC) to benchmark systems quality and custodial effectiveness development and operations of high
performance schools.
that affect student performance to ensure the learning environment
Eric Naslund, FAIA, is a partner at
including thermal comfort, lighting, performs as well as possible.
Studio E Architects in San Diego.
acoustics and indoor air quality.