VMDO Architects

The construction of a new school is a significant milestone for a community of any size. These buildings should be expected to have at least 50 year life spans, and over the course of that life, initial construction costs represent a very small fraction of overall expenditures, which include maintenance, operations, and salary costs. Healthy, high performance buildings pay significant dividends long after the construction process is over.

High performance starts with significant reductions in a building’s use of energy and water. Depending on client goals, our school designs often go beyond conservation and include opportunities to harvest and reuse resources. These approaches often include natural day-lighting, rainwater harvesting for flushing or irrigation, innovative strategies for conditioned air, and on-site production of clean electricity. By going beyond “using less,” our schools provide students and teachers with tangible examples of proactive, local solutions to our global environmental problems.

A pioneer in net-zero-energy school design, VMDO has provided educational environments that are carbon-neutral, but data-rich. As designers of environmental graphics and custom building dashboards, our schools provide tangible, age-appropriate environmental lessons, including real-time data on energy and water usage and production for use in school projects and lesson plans.

Most importantly, our schools set the stage for higher performing people. Increased ventilation and air filtration, toxic-free materials and cleaning procedures, acoustic privacy with visual openness, and abundant natural light all contribute to less absenteeism and more engagement.