Owego Elementary School

Building a symbol of resilience

One day into the school year, Tropical Storm Lee changed the community of Owego, New York, forever. One of the four school buildings destroyed by flood was Owego Elementary School. The community’s resiliency and commitment to its littlest students would not be swept away with the damaging waters, however. Within days, the school district had Highland Associates Architects on site working hand-in-hand with FEMA, the New York State Education Department and the state of New York.

"It was important for us to ensure the school embodied the healing of a community and serve as a symbol of the determination and perseverance of the Owego community". David Degnon, Senior Associate, Design Department Head, Highland Associates.

Comfort for small learners by design

The firm also considered that a 120,000-squarefoot building can be very overwhelming, especially to a 4-year-old going to school for the first time. In order to avoid long, tunnel like corridors, the halls are bent and broken, creating intermittent learning spaces that are filled with natural daylight and views  of the outdoors.

“The spaces have a sense of relaxed vitality that comes only with a strong connection to the outdoors,” Degnon says. “This would not be possible without the strategic use of specialized glass products such as Guardian SunGuard® coated glass”, says Degnon.

Staff wanted the flexibility of spaces that can be used at all times of the year, which means the glass must help manage solar heat gain and thermal performance year-round.

“To increase the thermal performance, we initially looked at a triple-pane system. Because of the added complexity of the laminated glass, the curtain wall system would have become a custom system. This would have dramatically increased the cost of the façade. The solution was to use argon in place of air for the airspace and to couple that with SunGuard® IS 20 coated glass. By doing this we were able to achieve triple-pane performance  in a laminated, double-pane system", he adds.

Strategic choices for a certifiably high-performing building envelope

Highland Associates aimed to design a building with a high-performing envelope in order to meet LEED certification requirements, including earning the enhanced acoustical performance credit.

Triple-silver SunGuard® SNX 62/27 coated glass was selected because of its balance of performance and light transmittance. Laminated glass also has sound control benefits, which helped the team meet its goal of reducing the distraction of outdoor noises.

The addition of the interior surface coating, SunGuard® IS 20, helps bring the U-value performance of double-glazed units closer to that of triple-glazing, improving performance in buildings where maximum heat flow resistance is desired while still allowing abundant natural light. This combination of SunGuard® products, installed by Forno Enterprises Inc., has 60% visible light transmission and a low 0.26 solar heat gain coefficient, for an impressive light-to-solar gain ratio of 2.34.

“SunGuard® IS 20 coated glass is a unique tool that brings tremendous value for architects and designers looking for a way to maximize glass performance without compromising budgets or – more importantly – aesthetics,” says Alan Kinder, regional architectural manager, Guardian Glass. “We see how, when combined with SunGuard® SNX 62/27 coated glass, it did the job for Owego Elementary School in helping the team stay on-budget, offering enhanced thermal performance, and allowing for abundant access to natural light to create a beautiful building that achieved LEED® Gold certification.”