River Crest Elementary School, Hudson, Wis., has almost 600 students in grades K to 5 and consists of four sections per grade with two early-childhood classrooms. Teachers favored a small learning community layout with shared resource and storage rooms between classrooms. This provides storage areas for kits and other teaching aids, and a shared resource room for tutoring, testing and small-group activities.
The school is designed to perform 30 to 35 percent more efficiently than the LEED baseline. Water-use reductions of 40 percent are anticipated through the use of low-flow lavatories, dual-flush water closet levers, waterless urinals and other water-saving fixtures. The windows provide for views and daylight, while controlling glare and unwanted heat gain.
The site itself, designed to retain stormwater on-site, will be landscaped with native prairie grasses to eliminate watering and reduce maintenance, and will serve as an outdoor classroom.
The project is targeted for LEED gold certification.
The architectural and construction management firm is Hoffman, LLC (Appleton, Wis.).
