June, 2010
Over 1,000 people were in attendance! It was very moving to hear the speeches but best of all were the comments and awestruck looks from parents and students as they walked around the campus. Can’t wait to post final photography to our website in September and give everyone a closer look at this amazing campus.
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Posts Tagged ‘American Canyon High School’
American Canyon High School Dedication
Monday, June 21st, 2010First Verified Collaborative for High Performance (CHPS) School in California
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Our Latest News—American Canyon High School is the first school in California verified by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS)—the United States’ first green building rating program especially designed for K-12 schools. A dedication ceremony will be held June 18th with doors opening to students in August. Developed to serve the growing community of American Canyon, Napa Valley Unified School District’s state of the art high school campus is planned to accommodate over 2,000 students. Designed by Quattrocchi Kwok Architects, this highly sustainable campus features extensive daylighting, a geothermal system to minimize heating and cooling energy, recycled materials and a one megawatt photovoltaic power system which when complete will generate over 80% of the campus’ electricity. ACHS will be formally recognized as CHPS Verified later this summer when construction is completed.
“For years, Napa Valley Unified School District has been active in establishing programs and obtaining equipment to save energy and lessen the carbon footprint of its operations. The construction of American Canyon High School brings the latest technologies and green operating features together, at one site. [By] incorporating green efforts into the learning environment of a high school rich with technological amenities from which students will participate and witness our changing world, is a very positive educational experience.” – Don Evans, Napa Valley Unified School District.
“Upon setting foot on the American Canyon High School campus, students and staff will immediately know their community’s commitment to them and to their school. ACHS has been designed to be a learning environment that is healthy and productive, as well as resource-efficient and community-oriented. It is truly a model high performance school. Napa Valley Unified showed an early commitment to ‘green’ by being the first to go through the CHPS Verified design review in California. We will be lucky to count such an impressive project among the list of CHPS Verified schools.” – Bill Orr, Executive Director, Collaborative for High Performance Schools.
High Performance Schools – Free CHPS Training in SF with Aaron Jobson
Friday, May 21st, 2010
Wednesday, May 26 / 9 AM to 4 PM
Pacific Energy Center in San Francisco
Funding for this free training is generously provided by Pacific Gas and Electric
High Performance Schools: A CHPS Update (9 AM to noon)
Discover the benefits of safe, healthy, energy-efficient facilities that provide the amenities for a quality education. Participants will learn about the updated 2009 edition of the CA-CHPS Criteria, the CHPS implementation roadmap, and new resources available through the CHPS program. In particular, participants will learn how to apply CA-CHPS to major modernizations with plenty of examples of what can be done from real school projects. Aaron Jobson of Quattrochi Kwok Architects will also provide a case study of American Canyon High School, one of the first schools approved under the CHPS Verified program. In addition, funding opportunities including Prop 1D, Savings By Design, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will be discussed.
American Canyon High School Ranked #1 Construction Project
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
If you recently received a copy of the North Bay Business Journal’s Book of Lists, check out page 61–American Canyon High School is ranked by value as the #1 construction project in Sonoma, Napa, Marin and Solano counties. This progress shot was taken December 2009.
Awarded BIM Contract with U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Example of BIM in practice on American Canyon High School
We’re very happy to report that Hallam-ICS was awarded a highly sought after potential $30 Million, five-year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) for Nationwide Building Information Modeling (BIM) services.
Hallam-ICS leads a team of national and international BIM pioneers and experts including: The S/L/A/M Collaborative in Glastonbury, CT, McFarland-Johnson in Concord, NH, Blach Construction Company in Santa Clara, CA, Quattrocchi Kwok Architects in Santa Rosa, CA, Gregory P. Luth & Associates in Santa Clara, CA, HMH in San Jose, CA, Hitchcock Consulting in Kelsey, CA, and Olof Granlund in Helsinki, Finland.
C.A.S.H. Feature Article on American Canyon High School
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009If you haven’t read June’s C.A.S.H. Register read the e-version here.
BIM School, Green School
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009American Canyon High School Takes Shape
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
2 C.A.S.H. Awards!
Thursday, February 26th, 2009Announced yesterday at the 2009 C.A.S.H. conference, QKA received the Award of Merit in the Project-in-Design category for American Canyon High School and the Award of Merit in the Specialized Facility category for the Daniel Caldwell Performing Arts Center at Tamalpais High School. Onhand to receive the awards were Deborah Brenner and Don Evans of Napa Valley Unified School District. Congrats to Tamalpais High School District and Napa Valley Unified School District!
California Green Schools Summit and Exposition:
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009In early December Jon Stong and I attended this green schools conference in Anaheim. Although getting there was a bit of an adventure involving a last minute flight cancellation and some temporarily lost luggage, the conference itself was quite good. On day 1 I presented a case study of American Canyon High School at the Collaborative for High Performance Schools’ (CHPS) pre-conference workshop, titled Getting a Green School on the Ground. ACHS is the first school to go through the new CHPS Verified program and features a number of innovative sustainable design strategies. (You can download my presentation slides here.) The presentation went well and I met a number of very interesting attendees, including one gentleman that is working on a green schools program for the area in China recovering from last year’s earthquake.
Day two was filled with seminars and learning. One of the best seminars that I attended was about Green School Yards. The presenters represented designers, community leaders and administrators that had worked together to create innovative, green school yards in San Francisco. They had really come up with some great ways to leverage a little bit of construction funds with District support and community involvement to create some fabulous play and learning spaces. I also attended a presentation of DSA’s new Grid Neutral Schools Guidebook which I helped create. This is a great program aimed at reducing overhead costs, greenhouse gas emissions and our electricity use. (read more here) The presentation slides even featured a few renderings of American Canyon High!
Day three featured more informative seminars and some time on the exhibit hall. There were many, many green products on the expo floor. One interesting product I ran into was a company that makes refillable non-toxic whiteboard markers. Check them out here http://auspenmarkers.com/. The last session of the day was one of the best. It focused on the use of natural ventilation in schools. I have been thinking a lot lately about how natural ventilation is a missed opportunity for a lot of schools. This seminar did a great job of explaining the principles and strategies for designing with natural ventilation.
My presentation from the conference can be downloaded here. Many of the other presentations from the conference can be downloaded here.