Saturday, March 24, 2012

Richardsville Elementary

Richardsville Elementary School is a rural school in the northern part of Warren County, Kentucky, and can be seen from my front porch. Both of my kids have attended this school. My son from third to sixth grade and my daughter from kindergarten to sixth grade.



The school was founded in the early 1920's, first as a high school.

I am not sure when it made the transformation to an elementary school.



The school has undergone several changes in the structure of the building through the years.


This is how the school looked while my kids were students there.





In 2009 construction of a new building began.




November 2010 they began tearing down the old building.









This was the view from my front porch during the demolition.





From its conception, the "New" Richardsville Elementary - the nation's first net-zero energy public school - was designed to be an affordable facility.





If you are unfamiliar with the term "net-zero", it basically describes a structure that generates as much (or more) energy than it needs to operate. it does this through renewable energy resources such as wind and solar.

Besides the fact that it completely generates its own energy, Richardsville Elementary is your typical school with classrooms, cafeteria, library, gymnasium, etc. It is designed and built as a tool to educate students on the value of energy conservation, solar, water conservation, recycling and more.

A "geothermal hallway" exposes piping manifolds and includes a temperature gauge so students can monitor the system's performance.

A "solar hallway" has a a laptop computer battery-charging station that students can see energy being received from the solar panels.

A "water conservation hallway" allows students to monitor the amount of rainwater collected and used to flush toilets throughout the school.

A "recycling hallway" enables students to monitor the quantities of materials collected and relates these to their global impact.

I wish I had pictures of these hallways to show you, but since my kids no longer attend the school my access is limited. I only visit once a year during the Fall Festival.





One part of the construction was put on hold due to a dispute with one of the construction crews.

For a few months this parking structure, which also has solar panels to help with the powering of the school, sat uncovered.










We were quite curious as what this structure was to be and why they stopped its construction. Then one evening while watching the local news we heard about the dispute.

It did create great shadows though.






Finally last month, the structure as well as the playground and some landscaping were completed.

It is a beautiful school and one that the community as well as the county is very proud of.


Happy Sunday!!

30 comments:

  1. What an inspiring story as well as great shadow shots for the day! Nothing we need more these days than good schools! Wonderful post! Thank you for your comment on my blog!! Always appreciated! Hope your weekend is going well!

    Sylvia

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  2. Yes, indeed, what a great story. It being a net zero building made loosing the structure worthwhile. As a community with vision and everyone managing to get 'on the same page'-bravo! I applaud you and your community.

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  3. Oh wow, it's nice that you have documented all the transformation! Thank you for your gorgeous contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

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  4. An interesting story about the evolving of this school! I am especially fascinated with the different hallways. Wonderful line up of shadows in the construction photos!

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  5. Role model school! In this part of the world lately they are more they are trying to be eco friwndly as well. But, applying that concept in a school and educating children is a great idea, hats off to the school and also to you for walking us thru'!

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  6. WOW, you should be proud! We need more and more this kind of projects!
    Happy Sunday!

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  7. What a great series of photo's and shadow shots

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  8. Interesting proposal, yes, I really like these photos

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  9. Love the historical photo...schools, this is ironic, Bud and I just visited the 1st school in our county from the 1800s yesterday. I hope to post about it sometime soon. Facts like this that is in your post today I find always of great interest. And thanks for explaining the 'net-zero'...'cause I was going to ask you just what it meant.

    Excellent post.

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  10. What a wonderful pictorial!
    As I read I kept thinking of the HGTV show 'Living With Ed' :)
    As a retired teacher I appreciate the built-in 'hands on' teaching opportunities.

    Wonderful shadows as well!

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  11. Very interesting about the school. You have seen it go thru many changes.
    Oh, and Knee Deep is my favorite song at the moment. :))

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  12. Interesting information on school. That building looks great.

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  13. wow...very cool. thanks for sharing!!

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  14. If my school were constructed that way, the district would save so much energy that all teachers would get a substantial raise!

    Shadowy Poppy

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  15. What a great school to be part of! Great shdaows for the week as well|!

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  16. How neat that you provided a pictorial on the progress of the school construction!!

    Your shadow shots at the end are really nice, too.

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  17. Loved seeing all of the construction! Our school was demolished several years ago to build a new one. Such a strange feeling knowing you will never walk down those halls anymore!
    Enjoyed the shadows as well ~ enjoy the rest of your weekend!
    Karla & Karrie

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  18. Great shots and a great journey through time!! I Loved it!

    John

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  19. Great post.

    Regards and best wishes

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  20. Very interesting read. Thank you for sharing.
    ~Clara

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  21. Interesting read. Thank you for sharing.
    ~Clara

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  22. Very interesting post and information about this building. I like the patterns of these shadows

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  23. Wonderful post! As a photojournalist and educational PR specialist, I found the "net zero" construction very interesting! Many other districts should take notice of this! Great shadow shots too!
    PS - thank you for stopping by my blog! I loved hearing about your dog and your daughter putting the scrunchies in his hair! He must be beautiful! Pre-Huskies, I've always had GSDs and GSD/mixes. Love them too! Happy Sunday! See you again!

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  24. I love that old photo of the school. The first one! It is amazing to see the changes that the school had gone through. It's like the school here in our small town. It was a beautiful old school and they tore it down and build a new one. Beautiful shots! Good thing the project was done! Visiting you back!

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  25. The previous building looks like the late 1950s (a guess), typical in its looks and energy usage, which was not efficient in its era. So the net-zero design is great. I wonder if the orientation was that bigger windows face the east and south for more sun in the winter, smaller obes to the north and west for less winter cold - those sort of designs. The efficiency is so important as the more money conserved can be added to further its mission of learning. What a great concept!

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  26. Time makes such a big difference in things and our lives.

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  27. Great post about the school. Love the shadows too.

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  28. I like the mathematical look of the parking structure, minus and plus, shadow and light stripes.

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  29. the world is constantly changing. Good of bad?? Who knows.

    Great shadows.

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  30. Richardsville became an Elementary School in 1969 when Warren East High School opened. I was in the first freshman class at Warren East. I had gone to Richardsville first through 8th grades.

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