MONTESSORI ON THE RIO GRANDE Montessori on the Rio Grande Charter School (MRGCS) has just received a much-needed makeover. Nestled among cottonwoods off Gabaldon Drive in the Los Duranes neighborhood the school, which serves 260 K-5 students, has been operating out of a drafty, failing building since opening its doors in 2004. “It was built like a poorly constructed bad house—2 x 4’s, stucco, concrete walls, ruined adobe and old rusted steel.” says Don Dudley, lead architect for the project which won an AIA award December 13, 2013. When APS assessed all their facilities Rio Grande Charter rose to the top of the list because of the state of the building. The first phase involved four classrooms and a shared use teaching space that all open up to generous planted courtyards enclosed by traditional adobe walls. This was completed in September of 2013, with FAMCO General Contractors overseeing the project. Phase II will integrate seven more classrooms, also connected by the traditional courtyards. Dudley, who was a lead staff member on architect Antoine Predock’s team, gave the design a modernist bent. “We wanted to make it a simple building–simplicity is a tenet of modernism. A lot of architects feel they have to bust a move to make it fancy. We wanted to make it a horse barn, an honest building.” One of the special features of the project is a 12 foot wide overhang surrounding the classrooms, constructed of exposed steel roof members that overhang—Dudley’s “modern interpretation of the portal.” MRGCS prides itself on its self-directed pedagogy inspired by Maria Montessori, founder of the Montessori system. The charter school also puts a high value on environmental and nature-based education, facilitated by its location just five minutes on foot from the Rio Grande Bosque. “They take the kids on nature walks every single day. All the toddlers through the older grades—it’s really impressive,” says Dudley. They’ve been developing an outdoor classroom which includes a natural wetlands area funded by a Fish and Wildlife Grant. Thanks to an Albert I Pierce Grant it will soon integrate a pollinator garden and composting system. Dudley’s team integrated a number of sustainable design elements into the project including a Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) AC unit, which has been utilized for two decades in Europe but has only recently gained popularity in the U.S. “It’s a really intelligent system—super energy efficient. The system is connected to an outside heat pump. The heat pump pulls warm air out of cold air, and pumps hot air into the classroom. If one classroom is hot and the other cold, the direction of the pumps switches to accommodate the change,” explains Dudley. Photo Credit: Patrick Coulie Water conservation is another feature, with a 6,000 gallon above-ground cistern installed to capture rainwater off of the building. The kids can attach a hose to the cistern and use it to water the garden and plantings in the courtyard. Overflow is directed to the wetlands to supplement its normal well-fed water source. “They completed the rainwater harvesting system the day before the big deluge last summer. With that first rainfall, it overflowed right into the wetland and filled it up.” Dudley integrated drought tolerant trees and plants into the landscape design, including an unusual species of bamboo. “I got on a kick to see if bamboo was an appropriate plant for this environment. “ Dudley laughs describing his adventures with City of Albuquerque arborist, Stan Shug, who has been growing vast fields of bamboo at the Bio Park. “I spent four hours chasing Stan through the bamboo at the zoo. They have huge stands, with giant canopies of this enormous bamboo. We picked out Robert Young bamboo, a xerophytic (drought-tolerant) species of bamboo with beautiful yellow canes that have random green stripes. It comes from the high dry deserts (Steppes) of Asia—it will surely thrive here.” Dudley’s team made it a priority to open the classroom to the outdoors. Toward this end they designed huge sliding glass doors for every classroom leading directly out into the courtyard. They also integrated super high clerestory windows for each classroom looking out into the wetland. “Using a high band of diffuse light is the best way to light a space. It provides a very gentle ambient light, good for naturally lighting a classroom because your eyes don’t perceive the glare.” Just another small yet vital detail support a dynamic learning environment for MRGCS’s lucky students, as they enter a new year. For more about Don Dudley Architects, check out this article, or their website here. Construction Reporter is pleased to profile this inspiring local project. Please give us your feedback on this article and others you might like us to see cover!
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 17:29:42 +0000