New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) partnered with the S/L/A/M Collaborative to design the Metropolitan Business Academy, an energy-efficient 89,000-square-foot school in New Haven, CT. NHPS wanted to develop a building that incorporates energy efficiency and conservation, maintainability, and a healthy environment for the students, faculty, and staff. In addition, the project is part of a 14-year program started by the City of New Haven in 1996 to rebuild 47 public schools. Due to growing utility costs, the City and its School Construction Program later introduced the High Performance Schools Design Requirements (HPSDR), which mandate that every project be designed with an eye toward energy efficiency and sustainability. S/L/A/M focuses on these practices in the early stages of the design process to deliver projects that reduce impact on the environment and enhance the health of occupants.
Because HPSDR would be applied to many projects, it was determined that a consistent protocol would be needed to gauge progress. To this end, S/L/A/M and NHPS used EPA's Target Finder tool to set and evaluate intended energy use goals.
Exterior Picture to the right shows the projects unique design