Neptune Township Summerfield Elementary School
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As the first LEED Gold certified public school in New Jersey, Summerfield Elementary takes a hands on approach to teaching and fostering an understanding of sustainable practices with students and the community. With an emphasis on Live Event Learning and indoor/outdoor connections with the classroom, Summerfield utilizes the surrounding property’s 22 acres of wetlands, streams and nature trails as part of the curriculum. In redeveloping the Neptune Township site, the project team worked to revive the existing brownfield, planting local vegetation and implementing bio swales.
7group guided the project team through the LEED certification process including managing the documentation process and assisted with developing specifications that incorporate LEED requirements. Energy modeling and consulting and daylighting analysis for the project provided by 7group led to a 35% reduction in energy usage and 92% of all areas have direct access to outdoor views and daylighting. 7group’s commissioning agent implemented fundamental and enhanced procedures to ensure the building is functioning as designed.
As an educational tool, the Summerfield building and surrounding campus excel, incorporating the building’s systems into the curriculum from rainwater collection and irrigation, geothermal heating and cooling, to passive solar energy. Outdoor involvement is encouraged through the interactive education program and the music room which can be opened to an outdoor amphitheater for concerts, plays and assemblies. Students are an active part of the colonial style sustenance gardens and the solarium attached to the building, which acts as a greenhouse. The facility itself significantly reduces energy cost by using geothermal heating and cooling, high efficiency fixtures and thermal envelope. The school also works to restore and preserve the surrounding land with an underground rainwater collection tank and groundwater recharge system.
Stone and materials from the original Summerfield building were reused in the construction of the new elementary school. The silo attached to the main building and a stone fireplace in the cafeteria reference early American Agrarian style. 
Daylighting and building orientation encompassed a considerable part of the school’s design and planned curriculum. On the southern and western side of the building, sunscreens were implemented to shade classrooms from direct sunlight. Leading out into the amphitheater and courtyard, the solarium operates as the school’s greenhouse and teaching tool for students on controlling passive solar energy. 
Students and teachers alike manage and irrigate sustenance gardens around the school property. Students learn about rainwater collection, measuring rainwater storage and monitoring seasonal rainwater cycles.
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Location
Neptune, NJ, USA
Project Owner
Neptune Township
Public Schools
Architect
Richard Basta,
EI Associates
Building Size
101,900 sf
Completed
May 2006
Cost
$22,100,000
LEED® Status
LEED Gold (NCv2.1)
Certified
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