Phoenix Central School District's Emerson J. Dillon Middle School has received LEED silver certification, making it the first non-vocational LEED-certified public school in upstate New York.
The 210,000-square-foot project includes an 80,000-square-foot addition and renovations to the existing 130,000-foot-building, which accommodated about 750 students in grades 5 to 8. The addition was the largest component of a $41 million capital project for the district.
Sustainable strategies include water-saving building and site improvements, building energy-use reduction and commissioning, existing building reuse and construction waste management, use of low-emitting materials, daylighting, and strategies to increase thermal comfort and ventilation through the use of a displacement ventilation system in all new classrooms. In addition, an exterior envelope commissioning program was used to reduce heat loss, infiltration and energy consumption.
Ashley McGraw Architects (Syracuse, N.Y.) was the design architect.
