Stantec designs first WELL Gold certified high school in Maryland

SANDY SPRING, MD. — Global integrated design firm Stantec has designed the first WELL Gold certified high school in the United States.

Stantec provided architecture, interior design and engineering for the Sandy Spring Friends School’s new Pen y Bryn Upper School, in Sandy Spring, Md., for students from Grades 9 to 12.

Located on the 140-acre Sandy Spring Friends School campus the facility houses multiple educational buildings for more than 650 students from preschool to Grade 12.

Stantec’s design reflects the school’s Quaker values: simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship – and creates a harmonious space for teaching and learning, indicates a release, adding the architecture aligns with the school’s core values through a simple, elegant design that celebrates the Upper School’s sense of community, collegiality and respect.

In terms of environmental elements, the new building offers many outside views from classrooms, offices, social areas and stair towers; a covered front porch next to the meditation garden; a sunny maker-space patio to the west; and a quiet roof terrace on the third floor extending learning to the outdoors.

The interior palette is inspired by the school’s ropes course, a well-known local amenity and incorporates large areas of ash wood walls created from trees reclaimed onsite, the release states.

For energy solutions, interior rooms have expanses of floor-to-ceiling glass to provide daylighting and exterior views through large windows in classrooms, collaboration areas, offices and social areas. The lighting design uses high quality LED lighting compliant with WELL Building standards.

Lighting in the main commons and adjacent conference room echoes the “tree canopy” interior design scheme and resembles an abstract tree branch, adds the release.

In addition to its WELL Building Gold design, the Upper School is engineered as a net-zero energy ready facility, where the total amount of energy used by the building annually is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site or nearby.

“Seeing the new building come to life has been an amazing planning and design journey, showcasing our team’s commitment to healthy design and innovation,” said Laura Sachtleben, global education sector leader for Stantec, in a statement. “We’re proud of the results of our partnership with the school community and are excited to see the students, teachers, and staff embrace this new learning environment.”