Monday LEEDoff: Poly Prep Lower School Expansion at 50 Prospect Park West (Tour on 3/11)

Last fall, the Poly Prep Lower School at 50 Prospect Park West in Brooklyn completed an 18,000-square-foot expansion project, designed by Sam White of Platt Byard Dovell White Architects. The $2 million effort expanded the school’s original 21,800-square-foot space in the adjacent Hulbert Mansion- which was reconfigured as part of the expansion- and is aiming for the first LEED certification awarded to any school in New York City. White’s design emphasizes natural daylight; the school’s Nursery through Grade 4 students enjoy classrooms that offer windows on three sides and a skylit, third-floor dance studio. Bamboo panels and stone floors grace a three-story atrium space that connects existing and new construction. Contractor RCDolner built the addition in a scant nine months; it was the firm’s first LEED project and involved a number of significant design challenges, including maintaining three of the Mansion’s four facades, which are landmarked, and bracing the historic Mansion’s foundations during the renovation of its interiors. The design itself, in fact, had to receive approval from the Landmarks Commission prior to moving forward in October of 2005.

The project upgraded mechanical and electrical systems at the Romanesque Mansion, which dates from 1895, and incorporated a number of LEED-standard construction features, including 41 percent local, 22.5 percent recycled-content, and 8 percent rapidly renewable materials. Poly Prep has also committed to purchasing 70 percent of the building’s energy needs over the next two years from green power sources, and anticipates that White’s design will help it achieve 30 percent in water savings. The project team was also able to recycle over 80 percent of construction debris; while the School awaits formal certification from USGBC, it’s unclear what level of award it will earn. If you’re interested in checking this important green project out firsthand, USGBC-NY is sponsoring a tour of the School this Tuesday, March 11, from 3 to 5PM. The event, which will meet out at the School, is free for chapter members but $10 otherwise- you can register online here. If you can’t make it, be sure to check out the link to RCDolner’s project page below, which offers a number of both interior and exterior project images.

• Construction Status (Poly Prep)
• Our Time to Grow (Poly Prep)
• Poly Prep Day School (RCDolner)
• Tour of Poly Prep Lower School (Registration)

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