CMTA, Inc.

Architect:

VMDO

Scope Of Work

The First  Zero School

CMTA built on years of Zero Energy experience to take the dream of sustainability and make it a reality for Arlington Public Schools in Arlington, Virginia. Thanks to our expert consulting and design team, CMTA was able to exceed the ’s energy efficiency goals, while remaining within a strict budget.

The name "Discovery" honors the memory of John Glenn, the famous pilot, astronaut, and senator, who lived in the neighborhood and played with his children by running orbital patterns in Williamsburg Park, upon which Discovery now stands. Discovery is appropriately named for a school that is innovative in both reaching extraordinary energy goals and delivering a classroom environment that allows the student performance to take-off.

When we began working with Arlington Public Schools we were given a budget that, in the past, had been suitable to achieve  Silver certification; however, the CMTA team challenged the  to believe more was possible. Our First 30 principle was employed to set energy use targets, create paradigm shifts, brainstorm new energy reduction strategies and introduce a cost-shifting approach to fund the solar power system. Collaborating with a phenomenal architectural firm created solutions to drastically reduce energy consumption and initiate systems that were user friendly to operate/maintain and free the roof of mechanical equipment and other solar obstructions to allow installation of the solar power generation system. 

The focus to achieve more did not end with energy success. CMTA designed "Sphere," a better building dashboard that integrates building energy monitoring with the student's education. Concern for students' health led to design features such as natural lighting and a better ventilation system. The outside air system for this building is demand responsive meaning as students move through the school occupancy and CO2 sensors provide real-time data to vary the flow of the outdoor air to maintain a healthy environment.

One unusual challenge that our team had to overcome was the urban site which provided limited options to orient the school. The design team evaluated six approaches for building massing and solar orientation which addressed the urban site limitations. Each approach included a detailed energy model and the resultant selection was able to achieve better functionality and energy reduction. CMTA was able to truly partner with the architect, participating in the development of the project on a granular level and designing a world class learning environment that could also be a drastically low energy consumer.