Vision
On May 12, 2008 a catastrophic earthquake destroyed or severely damaged over 8000 classrooms and displaced millions of school children in Sichuan Province, China.
Imagine sustainable buildings emerging from the rubble enabling students to return to schools that are safe and healthy, sunlit, powered by low-carbon cost-effective energy and designed to anticipate lower cost renewable energy options in the future.
Our stretch vision is for a radically safer and greener rebuilding of Sichuan’s schools and public infrastructure that will measurably reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency, increase the use of healthy building material, decrease toxic off-gassing, and contribute to the restoration of local ecosystems.
The Center needs your support to help make this vision a reality for the children of Sichuan and the planet. Please support this effort by making a tax-deductible donation today!
Plan
The approach is to move forward based on the public-private partnerships already in place with key Chinese national and provincial authorities responsible for reconstruction – including the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Ministry of Education and the Sichuan Provincial Government. The design teams are in place in China and the US. The goals:
- Develop a “sustainable schools protocol” drawing upon cradle-to-cradle design principles and best-in-class international standards that can be tailored to work in Sichuan for the reconstruction effort. The Center will facilitate an active program of trainings, workshops and technical assistance for local government, school bureaus and designers/contractors. Links will be made to sustainable products and technologies available from China and elsewhere.
- Immediately applying the sustainable schools protocol, the Center’s US Board members are leading a campaign to fund the design and construction of a prototype school. The Center will actively share information about the design and construction progress, extend lessons learned, and create opportunities for collaboration.
Plans are moving forward – on July 24 a Design Workshop, hosted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, reviewed the design protocol and concept designs. Following the workshop, the Ministry and Design Team visited sites in Sichuan Province under consideration as the site for the prototype school.
Team
The China – US Center for Sustainable Development is a public-private partnership that has been conducting demonstrations and providing training on green building and sustainable design alternatives for almost a decade. In response to the devastating earthquake, the Center seeks to leverage expertise through our community of sustainability professionals to help rebuild Sichuan schools sustainably. The design team includes:
| Ministry of Housing and Urban and Rural Development | China – U.S. Center for Sustainable Development |
| Ministry of Education | William A. McDonough FAIA – Advisor |
| Tongji University College of Architecture and Urban Planning | Sienna Architecture Company |
| China Real Estate Chamber of Commerce | Autodesk, Inc. |
| Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, LLP | Degenkolb Engineering |
| Carleton Hart Architecture | University of Oregon School of Architecture |
| University of Virginia School of Architecture | SOLARC Architecture and Engineering |
| BOORA Architects | Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries |
| Stanford University – Civil and Environmental Engineering | MulvannyG2 Architecture |
| Miyamoto International – Structural and Earthquake Engineering |
Sustainable Features
The sustainable features include passive heating and cooling, renewable energy systems, day lighting, shading and light reflecting devices, eco-effective insulation, green roofs, efficient appliances and fixtures, onsite storm water management, native landscaping, and salvaged materials from old buildings.
Explore the green features of the school design in progress…
History
In August 2007, a design workshop for a rural village school was sponsored by the China-US Center for Sustainable Development and organized by Tongji University in Shanghai. Participants included architecture students and faculty from Tongji, Tsinghua University in Beijing, the University of Virginia and the University of Oregon. The purpose of the workshop was to support international collaboration to incorporate sustainable design strategies into a prototype rural school for northeast China. The workshop successfully achieved its goal – developing conceptual designs for a multi-functional elementary school that is family friendly, climate and ecologically intelligent, and cost effective. Then, drawing on the results of the workshop, a team of architects and planners from Tongji University’s College of Architecture and professional architects and engineers from the US prepared a more detailed schematic design for the rural school. Fundraising and construction of a rural school in Liaoning Province was about to begin when the catastrophic earthquake destroyed thousands of schools in Sichuan Province.
The immediate focus is now on Sichuan Province given the unique opportunity to demonstrate at scale how to put into practice environmentally friendly site development and building standards. Greener standards in the rebuilding of Sichuan schools could dramatically reduce energy use, cut carbon emissions and pollution, and create buildings that are in harmony with the natural environment and safe for children.
Please Contribute
The target is $1 million to achieve the goals of this plan. With your support this can happen.
Contributions may be in the form of cash, in-kind services and/or technologies and materials. Please join us today in supporting this hopeful school for the children of Sichuan Province and the planet. You may donate in the following ways:
- Send a check to “Sustainable Sichuan Schools – China US Center,” China US Center, One World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon, Suite 210, Portland, Oregon 97204.
- Wire transfer – please contact Ms. Hanling Yang at the Secretariat for the account information.
- Secure credit card payment through PayPal – with or without a PayPal account – by clicking the “Donate” link on this page
All contributions are tax deductible to the full extent of US law. The US Secretariat for the China US Center is a 501 (c) (3) non profit organization – The International Sustainable Development Foundation – dedicated to helping create a world where commerce, communities and nature can thrive in harmony.
Contact
For more information about this project and how to make a tax deductible donation, please contact
China – U.S. Center for Sustainable Development
One World Trade Center
121 SW Salmon St. Suite 210
Portland, Oregon 97204
503-279-9383
China – U.S. Center for Sustainable Development
8 South Yuyuantan Road, Suite 610
Haidian District, Beijing 100038
People’s Republic of China
86-10-5888-4849