The Program
IslandWood is a residential educational campus that provides young people with a deeper understanding of the natural environment through hands-on project and outdoor field experience.

The 70,000 sf facility is comprised of 39 buildings and exterior site structures that are located on 255 acres on the south end of Bainbridge Island, Washington. The site offers a great variety of eco-systems for educational opportunities, including a pond, a stream, numerous wetlands, and multiple generations of logged forest. The educational core of the center includes the Welcome Center (interpretive center, great hall and administration), Learning Studios, Dining Hall, Art Studio, Living Machine, and Maintenance Building. Visitor accommodations include three lodges and a guesthouse. North of the educational core is a staff housing area with a series of cabins for graduate students who are pursuing a one-year certificate in environmental education. Site structures include a bird blind, bog-viewing treehouse, pedestrian suspension bridge, and floating classroom. Shelters and walkways are connected by a system of primary and secondary trails.

The Welcome Center, Dining Hall and Learning Studios received LEED� Gold Certification in 2002 - the fifth project in the country to receive this rating - and the first in Washington State.

The Premise
At the earliest stage of visioning, the project owners approached the design team with two primary objectives:
1) Create a magical place for children linking ecology, technology, and the arts in a natural setting.
2) Protect the 255-acre site for future generations.

With these two goals in hand, the design team proposed the concept to the owners that the "children and the site were the project clients, and that together, the design team and owners would form a team to best serve these clients." This simple, yet powerful idea helped inform design decisions from the earliest stages of programming through the final days of construction.

Client #1: The Children
In order to understand the needs of this first "client" group, the interdisciplinary design team of Architects, Landscape Architects, and Planners spent three days at an environmental learning center in Olympic National Park where they participated as a group in many of the same programs and learning methodologies that would be implemented at IslandWood. This experience was instrumental for the design team to understand the multiple types of learning environments that would be necessary to facilitate such non-traditional educational programs. Features such as gear storage, mudrooms, wetland laboratories, and the Friendship Circle grew out of this visit. Additionally, with a target study group of eight students plus a chaperone and naturalist, the team looked for as many design opportunities as possible for this size group to gather indoors or outdoors for formal or informal learning sessions.

In collaboration with the University of Washington Department of Landscape Architecture, the design team also engaged multiple regional schools in a series of design charrettes with fourth to sixth grade school children. At these interactive workshops, students were challenged to describe their desired qualities for learning and living environments at IslandWood through drawings, writing, and model-building. These exercises gave insight into many key experiential qualities that could help create a "magical" place for children. Some of these ideas included: sense of adventure; places for introspection; ability to occupy spaces up high or in unique settings, sense of security, and strong connections between interior and exterior spaces. While these concepts helped shape the planning and design of the IslandWood campus and facilities, specific kid's ideas that were implementedincluded the Mac's Pond Floating Classroom and a deep window sill at each bunk bed where a student could place a special memento from home, such as a photo of a family member or favorite pet.

Client #2: The Site
With a 255-acre wooded site encompassing a near-complete watershed, numerous wetlands, and multiple generations of hilly, logged forest, the design team took a two-track approach to get to know this rich and varied "client."

On multiple occasions, the design team set off on foot with aerial photos, maps, compasses, and machetes to fight its way through IslandWood's thick third- and fourth-growth forests. Wildlife biologists, wetland biologists, and educators joined the Architects, Landscape Architects, and Planners as they began to catalogue critical ecological and educational features while exploring the different options for building and site development. On a particularly wet weekend in late November, the team camped-out on site to "soak" in the full IslandWood experience. This wet, yet rewarding adventure reinforced the need for covered porches on all buildings and a series of exterior site structures where students could seek refuge from the northwest rains while writing or sketching in their journals and participating in ecological lessons with IslandWood naturalists.

Back in the office, the team performed a detailed overlay mapping analysis of the site, inspired by the process advocated by the Landscape Architect Ian McHarg in his landmark book "Design With Nature." This exercised assigned values to each part of the site relative to its logging history, soil suitability, steep slopes, and regulatory impacts, including wetlands and riparian corridors. For example, the team determined that areas that were logged most recently (i.e. 1970s) were less ecologically sensitive than areas that were last logged at the end of the nineteenth century due to the range of ecosystems that had been established in these areas. When all of the maps were overlayed atop each other, the team developed a more definitive understanding of the areas that were most suitable for construction based on the established value system. The selected 16-acre primary development area comprised third- and fourth-growth forests that were indicated on aerial photographs by big leaf maples and alders and on-foot by a thick understory of native and non-native species.

Once this primary development site was selected, an extensive survey catalogued every tree over 8" in diameter in the 16-acre forest. This allowed the design team to locate individual structures around significant groupings of trees and mature individual specimens.

Interdisciplinary Design
Led by Architects and Landscape Architects, the interdisciplinary design team included planners, numerous engineers, biologists, educators, artists, contractors, and a wide range of specialists. All totaled there were approximately 100 individuals who provided critical design input with a small team of core designers allowing for a continuity of objectives and design approach from beginning to end. This highly inclusive process allowed experts in many specialty areas (i.e. Remote Suspension Bridge Design and Construction) to provide insight into project opportunities, but required a significant amount of leadership and coordination from the Project Managers and Design Team Leaders.

The architectural and consultant team included ten LEED� accredited designers and various environmental engineering experts. The project began with a green visioning charrette, including a number of nationally recognized experts in the field who tracked and critiqued the design at multiple intervals throughout its development. On board throughout the process, the team was a valuable resource through to construction where they served as a valuable sounding board for critical issues such as green material sourcing and sustainable construction methodologies. In one instance, one of the "green gurus" provided a home-made recipe of "20 Mule Team Borax" and boiling water for removing mold from wood columns exposed to the long winter rains.

Buildings were modeled using T.A.S. (Thermal Analysis System) software to optimize natural ventilation. This integrated process between the architects and mechanical engineers was essential for developing the building orientation, building form, and fenestration so that thermal comfort could be achieved without air conditioning and minimal required heating.

Iterative 3D computer models and revisions to the architectural design continued throughout schematic design. As a result of this process, a "butterfly" roof form was developed for many of the buildings to optimize passive solar gain to the south and provide a large south-facing roof for solar hot water or P.V. panel installation. This building form also enhances natural ventilation. In order to achieve this iterative process, more fees accrued at the early stages of design, and expenses for ductwork and air handling units were traded for operable windows and skylights during construction.

The general contractor was added to the team during design development to research and develop methods for obtaining key environmental building components and to strategize methods for minimizing site impact during construction. Key issues included sourcing FSC certified lumber, construction waste recycling, and alternative framing techniques. During design development, the contractor's superintendent spent a number of weeks strategizing how to mill the trees cleared for solar meadows in front of each building in order to provide site harvested lumber for construction. When this on-site approach was determined to be cost and space prohibitive, the team located a local mill that was able to mill the trees and kiln dry the lumber. This lumber was used for 100% of the buildings' interior trim and 50% of the exterior siding, totaling nearly 75,000 board feet of hemlock, fir, cedar, maple and alder.

Lessons Learned
Finding creative, committed, and collaborative contractors, subcontractors, and consulting engineers is critical to achieving the highest sustainable design goals. Materials sourcing, permitting strategies, and construction techniques for alternative systems must be coordinated early on in the process or critical items could to be eliminated due to time and budgetary constraints.

Many of the innovative technological systems - such as photovoltaics, solar hot water panels, and the Living MachineT wastewater treatment system - required strong collaboration between the general contractor, subcontractors, design engineers, and the providers of these specialty systems. When troubles were encountered - such as with the attachment of the photovoltaic panels to the metal roofing system - they were typically the result of breakdowns in this process or changes in technology between the time of design and construction.

In some cases the contractors "embraced" the innovative sustainable approaches such, as at the Art Studio where the general contractor constructed their first straw bale building with great care and high-quality results. In other cases, subcontractors were reluctant to try new approaches, or they would charge additional fees for practices that appeared to save time or materials due to an apparent fear of the "unknown." In the long run, the contractors and tradespeople were quite proud of their results and convinced that many of the new materials and techniques would make sense for their future work. In the case of healthy indoor air quality and material use, the general contractor remarked that this was the first time they finished a new building and it didn't "stink" from all of the off-gassing from new materials. So even though they found it frustrating to source all of the low VOC adhesives, paints, and finishes, they appreciated the healthy working environment these measures provided for their crews and future building inhabitants.

In general, the local building department was receptive to IslandWood's innovative and sustainable methods used for design and construction. At a State level, permitting alternative wastewater systems, including the Living MachineT and Constructed Wetlands that provided tertiary level treatment for all wastewater, was a slow, difficult and expensive process. Hopefully, this process will get easier with similar projects in the future.

Project Economics
IslandWood is a privately funded, not-for-profit organization that relies on private donations for development and operating costs. Many of the sustainable design features became important fundraising and public relations tools during the course of the capital campaign. In fact, one of the learning studios was dedicated to the study of energy and sustainable design using the campus as an educational tool. The design team attended many fundraising events and gave numerous tours of IslandWood in order to promote the educational opportunities presented by the sustainable design features.

Difficult economic choices had to be made during the entire design process to balance issues of sustainability with the program and aesthetics. Exposed concrete slabs replaced wood floors; tiles were removed from many bathrooms; FSC certified wood siding was cost prohibitive; and more sophisticated rainwater harvesting systems were put on hold for future installation. In all, most sustainable goals were achieved, which will give IslandWood a highly efficient and healthy long-term home.

Summary
Innovative sustainable design projects such as IslandWood require a remarkably high level of interdisciplinary design, collaboration, and commitment from all involved parties. It takes owners, designers, and contractors with strong principles willing to push, to explore, and ultimately to lead, in order to serve their true clients who stand to benefit from their efforts in current and future generations. Like all projects trying to push beyond the status quo, IslandWood encountered some difficult situations along the way. But through a strong sense of values and perseverance, the outcome stands as a testament to great progress in the areas of sustainable design and innovative new approaches for educational facilities. The IslandWood design team learned numerous lessons that they continually share with colleagues and peers to advance the professional community and society as a whole.