Germantown Friends School Sustainable Urban Science Center

Germantown Friends School Goes for the (LEED®) Gold

The Germantown Friends School is an independent Quaker day school located in Philadelphia, PA, that provides education to around 850 K-12 students. Separated into a Lower School, Middle School and Upper School, the Germantown Friends School recently built a Sustainable Urban Science Center to accommodate a rapidly expanding interest in the sciences. With visible sustainable design strategies that include above-ground cisterns that harvest rain water, vegetated roofs and solar panel arrays, the building is LEED® Gold Certified.

Key Advantages

• Sustainable surface complements the school’s green initiatives
• Enhanced acoustics contribute to positive learning environment
• Few chemicals lead to efficient maintenance regimen
• Reparability helps protect against potentially damaging chemical spills

Project Considerations

Because science classrooms at Germantown Friends School often serve as both lecture areas and laboratory spaces, facilities personnel needed a floor covering that would reduce the noise associated with frequent furniture and student movement. So, although they opted for polished concrete in other areas of the building, with the guidance of SMP Architects, they chose nora® flooring tile for the chemistry labs. In addition to addressing acoustics concerns, noraplan mega and noraplan environcare inspired a unique design that includes two periodic tables laser cut into the flooring. The floor also meets the challenges of a space subject to harsh chemical spills. Personnel can efficiently clean spills or effectively replace any damaged area, thanks to the floor’s reparability – two options that are more difficult to exercise on exposed concrete floors.