Wood Scores A+ for Schools & Student Housing

Natural building material takes top honors for cost, aesthetics, and performance
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Sponsored by reThink Wood and WoodWorks
Wood has a strong presence at the South Tahoe High School in California. It was used for the school’s main structural system as well as exposed elements.

Wood has a strong presence at the South Tahoe High School in California. It was used for the school’s main structural system as well as exposed elements.

Photo by Costea Photography; courtesy of LPA Inc.

Human Health and Well-being

Green building objectives are broader than just environmental effects and have come to embrace human health and well-being issues, which involve both physical health and the psychological aspects of human performance—an area especially relevant to schools. The stress-reducing effects of nature are well documented, and intuition tells us that a connection to nature improves our sense of well-being while indoors. In fact, studies surrounding biophilia, the innate attraction that humans have to living organisms and life-like processes, support the use of wood and natural building products in a learning environment. Many building designers cite the warm and natural attributes of wood as a reason for its use, and are finding that users respond well to a visual or tactile connection with exposed wood products. “Wood is immensely popular and inviting, making it a perfect material to be used in learning environments,” says LPA's Rogers.

School Construction and the IBC

Wood is approved by the International Building Code (IBC) for use in school construction.

  • Type V is the most common type of wood construction and is allowed for school design. Type V is typically a cost-effective type of construction, particularly when load-bearing walls are wood. The IBC allows use of untreated wood throughout a Type V structure. Under the IBC, one-story Type V schools can be up to 87,875 square feet and two-story schools may be as large as 138,750 square feet. If additional square footage is required, two-hour rated fire walls can be used.

  • Type IV, also known as heavy timber construction, allows use of solid or laminated wood members such as glulam, wood decking, and structural sheathing when there are no concealed spaces. Fire-retardant-treated (FRT) wood can be used to frame exterior walls.

  • Type III construction allows wood roof and floor systems as well as interior wood-frame walls. FRT wood is required to frame exterior wood-frame walls.

  • Building Types I and II allow the use of heavy timber construction in roof construction and for secondary members. FRT wood can also be used in certain applications. Designing Schools with Wood from APA – The Engineered Wood Association details the approved use of wood in school construction by IBC building type.1

 

A study at the University of British Columbia and FPInnovations established a link between wood and human health. In the study, the presence of visual wood surfaces in a room lowered activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The SNS is responsible for physiological stress responses in humans such as increased blood pressure and heart rate while inhibiting the parasympathetic system responsible for digestion, recovery, and repair functions in the body. The study immersed 119 university students in one of four different office environments, some with wood surfaces and others without. Stress as measured by SNS activation was lower in the wood rooms in all periods of the study. The study concluded that wood is one way to create a healthier built environment. Study author David Fell says that while research on wood and schools is underway in British Columbia, the results of the office study apply to any interior environment. “The stress-reducing effects we found for wood in office environments are in theory transferable to any building type as these are innate reactions to natural materials. By extension, we would expect the application of wood in schools to contribute to lower stress activation in students and teachers,” says Fell. “Any built environment activates our sympathetic nervous system to some degree. From a biological/evolutionary perspective we are adapted to functioning in nature. By adding natural elements back into the built environment, these stress reactions can be reduced.”

The Bethel School District uses wood-frame construction to save construction costs while achieving high levels of energy efficiency. T he district reports an 81 percent ENERGY STAR rating overall, and several of their elementary and middle schools have ratings between 95 and 98 percent..

The Bethel School District uses wood-frame construction to save construction costs while achieving high levels of energy efficiency. T he district reports an 81 percent ENERGY STAR rating overall, and several of their elementary and middle schools have ratings between 95 and 98 percent.

Photo courtesy of Erickson McGovern Architects, Bethel School District

 

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Originally published in Architectural Record
Originally published in January 2014

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