Pioneer Meadows Montessori School
Additional Info
Award Winner : Modern Building Systems, Inc.
Architectural Excellence : The city of Ferndale, Washington has an upscale “theme” to their new city development, and this new educational building is near to some of that new construction. The appearance and layout of this Montessori building was intended to be “Contemporary”, per the goal of this retired architect-owner. The client wanted the advantages of modular construction, while maintaining some of the primary design features he required. The decision was made to use two 14’x42’ modules with a mono-sloped, standing-seam metal ribbed roof, in order to provide for the vaulted ceilings that client desired. A row of windows was placed at the top of the vault, plus several “solo-tubes”, to provide maximum natural light.
The interior of the building featured items such as: light-stained wood window surrounds, door frames, trims, wood cabinetry with solid surface countertops, “Marmoleum” floor-tiles throughout the building, and painted composite concrete lap-siding with a flat-concrete panel wainscoting
Cost Energy Effectiveness : This building utilized a wide-range of environmentally friendly, energy-saving features such as radiant heat panels, insulated low-e windows, insulated exterior doors, building wrapping, motion sensors for florescent lighting, the use of recycled materials in floors, ceilings, siding, and insulation. The construction process also used a substantial number of standardized building materials when possible, for superior efficiency and cost reasons (painted composite concrete siding, Marmoleum floor tile, sheetrock interior walls, etc). Additionally, the short time period from contract-signing until opening the facility, allowed the client get the school opened quickly, saving lease payments. This was accomplished in large measure by the roof design, saving a minimum of a week of on-site labor, ultimately providing a lower cost of the project.
Occupied Date : 11/4/2009
Production Start Date : 8/10/2009
Project Location City : Ferndale
Project Location State Name : WA
Technical Innovation : This building was designed to have maximum roof height, to achieve the vaulted ceilings desired by the client, and still be transportable by lowboy trailers. Thus, the design called for the building to be built as modules and shipped as a “super-load” (with the roof built in-factory, 100% intact). This approach, while costing a bit more on delivery charges, saved any potential weather damage, saved on-site labor costs for not having to construct the roof on-site, helped achieve maximum cost-effectiveness, and saved time. The building also featured a unique heating system, “Radiant Heat Panels”, which is common in the Northwest residential industry but new to the commercial industry. This approach uses radiant-heat panels, which are installed in the ceiling. It gets very good energy efficiency reports from the client and is noted for being very quiet to operate.
Total Square Feet : 1176
Category : Permanent: Education: under 5,000 sq. ft.