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Green Ribbon Schools: Bethlehem Middle School
By Stephanie Spear, Manager, Codes Advocacy

To navigate this slide show, please click on the icons at the bottom. Photo Credits: Mark Warford, Assistant Principal.

Bethlehem Middle School in Bethlehem, New York is another AIA-member designed winner of the Green Ribbon Schools award. The project was completed in 2008 and the firm working on the project is CSArch in Albany, New York. Rich Peckham, AIA was the Principal in Charge. Other team members include Charles A. Brome, AIA LEED AP – Principal (Project Architect), Ronald Bagoly, AIA – Principal (Project Designer) and Edwin C. Anker IV, AIA – Senior Associate (Job Captain).

The Bethlehem Middle School project was a part of an overall modernization project for the whole school district, comprised of eight schools. Throughout the planning process, the CSArch project team made it a priority to integrate as many high performance design characteristics as possible, Peckham said. The goal of the project was to renovate, expand and modernize the building, which was built in the 1930s but hadn’t been updated since a renovation in the 1950s. The work included an addition for a new classroom “house” wing, an addition for a new gymnasium, an addition to expand the cafeteria (and provide large group instructional space), an addition for a new orchestra room, and alterations and MEP work including changing steam to HW.

The building is now Energy-Star certified, with new classrooms and several high-performance features including low-flow toilets and energy efficient lighting and controls. The building systems were updated to include high performance thermal envelope in roofing and exterior windows, and energy recovering heat and ventilation systems. The CSArch team addressed proper orientation for classroom windows to increase daylighting.

Assistant Principal Mark Warford said that the feedback on the project has been nothing but positive. “Faculty and staff tell me how much better everything is – the lighting, the air quality, and the layout. It’s much more of a professional space.” Warford said the change is clear in both the modern addition and the renovated areas of the school. “The project has brought us up to a 21st century school.”

Warford is also the environmental coordinator for the school district’s Green Team. The program focuses on educating students about making sustainable choices. There is also a community garden at the school, which has grown into a community hub in the form of a weekend farmers market. The produce that students grow in the garden is used in the school’s food service program. The school has an aggressive program for recycling where a variety of materials are included.

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