When most people think about the Dallas Independent School District, sustainability is not the first thing that comes to mind. But one of the little known facts about DISD is their long standing implementation of sustainable design and construction principles. While these principles historically may not been labeled ‘green’, looking at them as a whole shows DISD’s concern about how their buildings impact their community.

     Francisco F. Medrano Middle School
     Design Architect - GSR Andrade Architects
     Managing Architect - CamargoCopeland
             Architects
     General Contractor - Adolfson & Peterson
     Photo credit to Peter Calvin

DISD’s latest success story is Francisco F. Medrano Middle School. Designed by GSR Andrade Architects, this project has been awarded LEED Certified Status. Francisco Medrano is the first school in Texas to be awarded LEED certification under the recently released LEED for Schools program. This is a massive achievement, as less than a dozen schools nationwide have achieved this certification – truly showing that DISD is a leader both locally and nationally.

LEED for Schools is a recently released product by USGBC, and specifically addresses the unique nature and challenges of K-12 school construction. But Francisco Medrano was not DISD’s first experience with LEED. Before LEED for Schools was released, DISD also showed success with Hector Garcia Middle School. Designed by Perkins + Will, this school received LEED Certified status under the LEED NC v2.1 system. To date, DISD remains the only school district in North Texas to have successfully achieved LEED certification for their facilities – and twice at that!

    Hector Garcia Middle School
    Design Architect - Perkins + Will
    General Contractor - Satterfield & Pontikes
    Photo credit to Steinkamp Photography

So how was DISD successful? The largest factor comes from their underlying operations and maintenance practices. Since DISD owns and maintains their facilities for decades at a time, minimization has always been a key strategy. Preference is given to potential school sites that are in dense urban areas, reducing the impact of new infrastructure in terms of roadways, water/stormwater, and electrical distribution. Buildings are situated to maximize controlled sunlight into the classrooms. Materials are selected based upon their durability and maintenance requirements. Mechanical and electrical systems are optimized for efficiency, expandability, and reduced maintenance. All of these strategies are aspects of sustainability.

While DISD has practiced these principles for years, it has not always been easy to measure or quantity. Several years ago, DISD undertook several meetings and reviews with Michael Kawecki with the purpose of aligning DISD’s operational practices with other industry standards. This was reflected by updating the District’s Technical Design Guidelines (TDG’s), the starting point for every DISD project. The district utilizes the services of multiple design and construction teams throughout the region. This alignment of the TDG’s clarifies the requirements of the design and construction teams, and allows a more consistent implementation.

As you can see, not everything is about LEED. While LEED is an efficient method of benchmarking and measuring facilities, it is not the only method. LEED is a national rating system and is being developed for multiple facility types. These national standards are not always able to accurately reflect the best design criteria for our region. LEED for Schools was developed in conjunction with CHPS (Collaborative for High Performing Schools), a system utilized heavily in California. This system is now being adapted to the regional and climate condition of Texas (TX-CHPS). While still under development, this system shows great promise and may be a better tool to measure sustainability for our climate conditions. DISD continues to monitor innovative sustainable school strategies, and selects the most appropriate tool for each school design on a project by project basis.

And DISD continues to be a leader in the community. In 2008, the District was invited to participate on the City of Dallas Green Taskforce. This taskforce was focused on creating a sustainable component addressing all new commercial and residential construction in the city of Dallas. They were able to contribute by sharing many of their existing design and construction principles. The new ordinance was passed last year, and goes into effect November 2009. While this ordinance will require significant changes for many facilities being built within Dallas’ city limits, DISD already meets and exceeds these requirements with their current standards.

One of the most stringent requirements of the Dallas ordinance is the requirement to reduce energy use by 15% as compared to the current building code requirement. This is achieved through the use of highly efficient heating and cooling equipment. As part of their ongoing assessment of their buildings, DISD began researching the use of geo-thermal cooling several years ago. Geo-thermal cooling utilizes a systems of pipes run through the ground, through which water is circulated. The earth’s natural temperature of 45-55 degrees cools this water, which is then used for air conditioning in the facility. This system is cost competitive and has the added benefit of being easier to maintain than traditional systems. This cooling system is currently being utilized at Francisco F. Medrano Middle School, and is estimated to reduce energy consumption by over 30% - double the mandated City of Dallas requirements. Project that savings over the estimated 40 year lifespan of the facility, and the numbers truly add up!

DISD will continue to implement sustainability in the new bond program. Each project will be assessed individually, and have specific sustainable design and construction goals assigned. DISD continues to monitor the latest trends and innovations in sustainable school design, and the community continues to look at DISD as a leader in sustainability.