The Westmont Science Education Facility not only houses classrooms, laboratories and support facilities for teaching science at the high school level, but also participates in teaching science. The building shows how it is built and what makes it go, offering “teachable moments” to connect what is learned inside with how things work outside, interweaving several disciplines in order to demonstrate genuinely sustainable design. True sustainability focuses on building construction and the building’s ability to stimulate ideas and lessons: users should take something with them and make informed choices in their lives outside the building.
Oriented on a true north-south axis it provide indirect light from the north and shade on the south to reduce cooling loads on the mechanical system. However, one classroom is skewed to align with the existing campus and generate discussions of building orientation. Photocells sense ambient light levels and automatically dim or raise indirect lighting fixtures. Occupancy sensors switch lights off when no motion is detected and return to the last position when motion is sensed again. Interior colors were selected to reflect and distribute natural light. Four-thousand square feet of solar panels on the roof generate up to 20 kW and can power the science building. On low-use days, excess power feeds back to the grid. Exposed instrumentation shows power generation including real-time fluctuations from clouds passing.
