The Bush School New Upper School

This intimate classroom building demonstrates the school’s collaborative educational philosophy and ambitious commitment to sustainability. The design introduces a fresh identity and cohesive addition to the campus fabric, gracefully framing the adjacent historic Gracemont building and connecting to an Olmsted-designed boulevard to the east. The building and landscape serve as learning laboratories, maximizing natural light and healthy materials, conserving water and energy, and incorporating green stormwater systems. 

Early in the process, three key performance goals became the foundation of the design effort: Passive House (PHIUS) certification, Net-Zero Energy certification and Salmon Safe certification. These goals were carefully protected from the normal value engineering process through strained economic and pandemic periods, with the client, design and construction teams working together to realize this stewardship vision. As a result, the project is the first school in Washington state to achieve Passive House certification and the largest in the western United States.

At the upper learning space levels, the building employs an expressed Mass Plywood Panel (MPP) structural system that is integral to the building structure as well as interior furnishing and design elements to promote tactile awareness of stewardship. Strategic transparency and daylight harvesting enhance the functionality of classroom and shared learning and circulation spaces while creating visual connections to nature.