Project Description
With a verified Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 17.3, Buckley Elementary School was a renovation project and New England’s first verified Net Zero Energy public school. The design focused on providing a tight envelope, high-performing building systems, and renewables such as photovoltaics and a geothermal wellfield. The project required 55,000 sq. ft. of renovation and a 9,000 sq. ft. expansion to allow additional classrooms and specialized spaces for students with disabilities, art, music, and STEM. Buckley Elementary School will accommodate 400 students in grades K-4.
The design creates a prominent main entrance featuring a solar flower as a learning opportunity and a real-time energy dashboard highlighting the school’s Zero Net Energy goal. The design takes advantage of the school’s existing energy-efficient features like the north-south facing windows and open space to create a geothermal well field and innovative technologies like bipolar ionization.