How do educators and design professionals help young students learn the value of community and sustainability? One approach is to design their school building to demonstrate these values.

The new Forest Edge Elementary School is a hub of innovation and 21^st-century learning practices for young students in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and a regional and national pacesetter in sustainable design. As of September 2021, the building is net zero energy verified, making it the first of its kind in Wisconsin and the largest educational building to reach that milestone in the United States.

Owner’s Program

The design team partnered with the Oregon School District’s planning team to develop the following programmatic goals:

• Every space should be conducive to learning, including resource areas, courtyards, and corridors.
• Bring as much natural light into the building as possible to benefit the building’s occupants and reduce reliance on artificial lights.
• Maximize transparency between classrooms, common areas, and the outdoors without sacrificing privacy and security.
• Leverage the building’s anticipated sustainable infrastructure into learning tools for students.

Site

The building site included a significant grade change, a nearby park, and heritage oak trees. From the outset, the design team sought to both respect and leverage these parameters. As a stepped building, Forest Edge takes advantage of the sloped site to maximize opportunities for windows. Not only do the windows allow natural light to spill into the building, but they also provide plentiful views of the park, trees, and surrounding landscape – reinforcing the connection between the building and the environment.

Forest Edge was the first building in its immediate area, setting the tone for the neighborhood that would follow in its wake. The design team worked closely with the neighborhood’s developer to align goals, including:

• Use of aesthetically similar building materials
• Implementation of water-retention features, such as bioswales, into the landscape
• Alignment of amenities like public pathways to ensure a walkable community

Design Solution

In partnership with the design team, the district created an innovative building with flexible learning spaces, ample daylight, and state-of-the-art sustainable infrastructure. The result is a building that not only contributes energy back to the grid but also leverages its sustainable features as teaching tools through interactive stations that highlight the unique features of the school.