Sustainability

Our resources are finite
It is clear that schools around the world also reflect more often and more deeply about their responsibility as a part of their community to integrate their structure into their surroundings with as little environmental impact as possible. From the geographical location to the layout of the school campus (eg close to public transportation hubs or bus stations and kiss & ride zones integrated in the campus) and from the orientation of the building and its functional entities to the physical building and its finishing (eg north oriented, semi-underground with a green roof, blinds and triple glazing). This concern for smart environmental solutions also finds its way into the school building and its facilities. Given the choice, more and more school administrations and architects will prefer more sustainable procedures, materials and concepts.

Think, regarding furniture for instance, about powder coated frames instead of chromed ones, higly recyclable plastics for the seating shells, bamboo, cork or other sustainable materials for table tops, cupboard panels etc. Recently, the world of education has also become more receptive to other types of sustainable concepts, where a piece of furniture is not only made with sustainable materials and procedures, but the concept allows for the parts to be transported separately - saving space and transport time, cost and carbon emissions –and the assembly can be done effortlessly by the customer thanks to the special concept. On the technological end of the spectrum, power saving technologies are obviously preferred, and easy energy saving devices such as timer switches, motion sensors or even room control can help to further reduce energy consumption.

Source: New World of Learning (VANERUM Group).