Background

Located at the corner of 22nd Street and Chestnut Street, the Albert M. Greenfield Elementary SchoolPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania. Children from kindergarten through eighth grade attend the school and use its facilities year-round. The nearly forty year old building was designed by Vincent G. Kling Associates as a three-story, brick and concrete building. Recently, upgrades have been made to some of the main interior spaces. Now, in order to create a more complete educational experience, Greenfield School and the Community Design Collaborative (CDC) are concentrated on developing the outdoor space of the school in an environmentally sustainable way. With the possible support of a $100,000 grant under the Campus Parks Initiative, the children and surrounding community can experience the school as a pacesetter for modern, sustainable techniques that enhance both education and recreation. is a core public school for

Master plan Overview

The project is focused on "The Greening of Greenfield School," using sustainable design principles to inform the decisions through the process. The UN World Commission on Environment and Development has defined Sustainability as "Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The US Green Building Council has defined Sustainability as "design and construction practices that significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment and occupants." More specifically, sustainable design or Green Building is concerned with three main core strategies:

• How will the project work with the site?
  • Choose the right site / Design the site work sensitively
• How will the project use resources?
  • Water/Energy / Building Materials
• How will the project treat its occupants?
  • Air Quality / Occupant Comfort and Safety

For this project, the design work is for the exterior spaces of the school which include the east and west sides of the south play yard, the secret garden at the corner of Chestnut and 23rd Street, and the roof. These areas can afford design opportunities to promote many key sustainable strategies.

These strategies include the following:

• Reduce storm water runoff and its impact on site safety and municipal storm sewer system
• Provide solar shading (trees) to reduce the Urban Heat Island effect
• Provide local and drought-resistant plantings that will improve air quality without the need for potable water irrigation
• Use recycled content materials where possible

Phase 1 - East Play Yard

The east area of the south play yard will be the initial phase of the Greenfield master plan, and therefore the possible recipient of the $100,000.00 Campus Parks Grant. It was decided that improvement of the east play yard would make the most impact for the children and the community. In this way, future improvements could build from the success of design ideas implemented in Phase 1.

Conceptual design of this area focused on existing issues and concerns, as well as incorporating new "green ideas." The south play yard is currently asphalt. Several areas are covered with a rubber pad under the existing play equipment. The proposed design removes the existing rubber surface and replaces it with a poured rubber surface made from recycled material. The new surface would be poured over a pervious base material, facilitating drainage and infiltration of storm water. This would allow the water runoff to percolate into the ground, both reducing the impact on the city water system and keeping the surface free from ice during the winter months. A "rain-garden" bio-retention system with various native plant types is designed for the south border of the play yard because existing grades slope toward this direction.

As a demonstration to the students about storm water management, the team has proposed to re-direct runoff from the roof to a rock garden that will be located along the face of the building on the north side of the play yard. The garden will use local rock material and native plantings of the herbaceous understory. The educational aspects will be further enforced by a pattern on the rubber play surface that demonstrates how water flows across the topographic contour lines of the site.

Planters with built-in seating surrounding new, additional shade trees are to be incorporated to form a physical threshold between the east play yard where the younger children gather and the west play yard where the older children play. These also act to help shade the yard in the hot summer months. . In the future, a mural is planned for the large expanse of brick wall of the stair tower. Because this is a prominent location that overlooks the entire play yard, it is an ideal area to incorporate the sustainable ideas planned for the rest of the site.

Phase 2 - West Play Yard

The west side of the play yard makes up approximately two-thirds of the south yard. An ideal solution is to replace most of the impervious asphalt with a pervious surface; however, it could be extremely costly and may require additional maintenance. As a solution, it is proposed that the asphalt remains in the areas the older children use for games. It can be removed in several areas of the west play yard to further alleviate the storm water runoff issues as well as reduce the "heat island effect". Mulched beds with plantings should be added along the north and west edges of the site. In addition, a "rain-garden" bio-retention system should be added at the lower south edge where it can aid in storm water runoff management. The surface of the yard can be manipulated into rolling mounds of earth and coated in recycled rubber play surface that can be both functional as a pervious surface and recreational for the children. These "modified ground planes" can enforce the idea of a physical threshold between the older and younger children, although they should be kept low to allow clear visibility across the site.

Phase 3 - Secret Garden

The "secret garden" is the enclosed area of the property at the corner of 23rd Street and Chestnut Street. It is very under utilized by the school due to it's remote location and dark atmosphere. The garden could be improved by penetrating the high brick walls to allow more light, which would in turn generate the possibility of plant growth. This private area of the school's property could become an ideal outdoor classroom space or teaching garden area.

Phase 4 - Roof

The roof of Greenfield school is an ideal place for a green roof and photovoltaic panels. It is approximately 22,000 SF of roof surface that collects heat, rain and snow throughout the various seasons. A green roof would be a huge benefit to the school and the city of Philadelphia. Ideally this would be a place where the kids could gather, however, in evaluating the existing roof structure, the team's suggestion would be to keep the roof unoccupied and plant a very lightweight or extensive roof system. A solution to allowing children to access the roof, would be to reinforce one structural bay of the roof and build a greenhouse where the children could be educated on plant life and green roof systems.

Everyone involved in this project is very excited about these educational lessons for GreenfieldGreenfield in conjunction with the Philadelphia Water Department and the Philadelphia Horticultural Society can provide students with many valuable lessons about sustainability. students and perhaps students from around the city. We believe that