Master Planning Update 01.09.13

Over the past few months our Core Team has been plugging away, focused on getting a site plan ready for final review by the Waitsfield Development Review Board. We are hoping to go back for the first meeting in February. In getting ready for that presentation, here's an overview of where we are at this point.

Yestermorrow Design/Build School Campus Master Plan

Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Waitsfield, Vermont teaches over 120 hands-on workshops, certificate programs and semester programs in sustainable design, construction, woodworking, and architectural craft. The intensive, hands-on courses are taught by top architects, builders, and craftspeople from across the country for people of all ages and experience levels, from novice to professional.

Yestermorrow currently employs 10 FTE staff and over 150 instructors. Short courses and certificate programs are currently taught at the main Waitsfield campus and the new Semester Programs started in 2011 are taught at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier.

Yestermorrow's Master Plan is designed to accommodate the school's growth over the next 25 years on its campus in Waitsfield, as the school expands its programs. The overarching goal of the process of campus development is to improve student experience, and demonstrate regenerative design principles that improve the site from the perspective of the natural systems, the students, staff and supporters, as well as the local community.

This plan is designed to accommodate up to 4 simultaneous courses and a maximum daily capacity of 100 people, with on-site lodging for up to 50 people.

Major themes: Some of the major themes of the plan include:

• Move the campus out of the floodplain and into the foot of the hillside, protecting wetlands and allowing for forest access for sustainable harvest.
• Slow the water as it travels through the campus, and make sure it is clean as it moves into the river.
• Create a gradient from public space to private space as you move from south to north, with the kitchen, dining and administrative spaces in the most public areas adjacent to parking, learning spaces in the middle of the campus, and lodging in the most private areas.
• Design buildings in residential-scale modules that will be designed and built by students using a variety of design and building techniques and technologies.
• Encourage the participation of the Yestermorrow community in the creation of the campus.
•  Entrance to the site should point people to the main public building.
• Restore agricultural use of field adjacent to Route 100.

Construction Phasing: We have divided the plan into three main phases in terms of priority:

Phase I: Bring semester programs on campus (build classroom, shop and dormitory for 16 students), replace existing intern housing, and initial site infrastructure including access driveways.

Phase II: Expand classroom spaces through the construction of additional studio and woodshop buildings, together with lodging for students and faculty.

Phase III: Create new main administrative, kitchen, dining and studio space. Renovate former Alpen Inn building into studios, library and student lounge.

Design Process: Yestermorrow’s board and staff have spearheaded the master planning process, with support from the Regenesis design team (Bill Reed, John Boecker, and Joel Glanzberg) with input from many members of the Yestermorrow community.

The board constituted a "Core Team" in November 2011 to continue to develop the plan. The Core Team is made up of 6 members, each representing different stakeholders in the school (students, staff, donors, board, community and natural systems). This team has been meeting weekly to continue to research constraints on the site, convene additional "field teams" of experts and interested parties to help us develop various aspects of the plan (wastewater, energy, design, forestry/agriculture, and stormwater/wetlands).

Features of the Plan:

•  Buildings will be oriented to maximize solar access, both for passive solar heating as well as photovoltaic electricity production on roofs.
• Culverts will be minimized, and stream flows returned to a naturalized state.
•  Wastewater systems will include advanced pre-treatment and instead of building one large conventional septic system, we will build smaller cells to treat wastewater as each phase is developed.
•  Heating systems will be distributed and use residential-scale technologies (vs. one large centralized unit).
•  The parking areas will incorporate areas for growing (orchards, gardens) and potentially energy production via photovoltaic canopies.
• Access to the site's forest resources will allow for sustainable harvest, milling, and storage of lumber on site for campus use.

Through the campus development, a variety of minor structures will be deconstructed or moved as needed:

• Chalet (deconstruct)
•  Pine Cabin (move to new location)
•  Yurt (move to new location)
• Garden Shed (deconstruct)
•  Lawnmower shed (deconstruct)
•  Fabric formed concrete cabin (deconstruct)
•  Composting Toilet and Solar Shower (deconstruct)

 DR

Yestermorrow Campus Master Plan

Program by Phase with Square Footage

Phase 1

New Construction

#	Building	Square Footage	Capacity
5	Intern Housing	2000	8 interns
8, 4, 3	Semester Program Studio/ Semester Program Office (upper) Tool Storage/Facilities Office (lower)	3000	16 students, 3 faculty
1	Semester Program Shop	1500	16 students
6	Semester Program Dormitory	4000	16 students
2	Outdoor Covered Work Area	1000
15	Bath House	600	For cabin/camping
24	Greenhouse	700
	SUBTOTAL	12,120

Existing Infrastructure Plans

#	Building
25	Main Building- current functions to stay the same (studio, shop, office, kitchen, dormitory). Facilities office to move to new building.
33, 53, 32	3 cabins remain (Strawbale, Timberframe, Slate)
34, 52	2 cabins to be relocated (Pine Cabin and Yurt)
42	1 cabin (Fabric Formed Concrete) to be removed
45, 46, 47	Composting Toilet and Solar Shower to be removed
48	Chalet to be removed once new intern housing is built
43	Trilithon to be removed
49	Driveway and parking area to remain in current location

Site Infrastructure

#	Building
	Develop drive/fire access to residential zone
30	Develop drive/fire access to semester shop and studio
	Initial sitework/earthmoving to create terraces so that each structure has entry on both ground floor and 1st floor.
	Remove culvert to daylight stream in cabin area
56	Wastewater systems (phase 1)

Phase 2

#	Building	Square Footage	Capacity
1	Woodworking Shop/ Woodworking  Drafting Studio	2300	10 students
9	Carpentry Shop	1500	10-12 students
2	Outdoor Covered Work Areas	1000	Adjacent to/between shops
14	Student Housing	3000	24 students
13	Instructor Housing	2000	6 instructors
	SUBTOTAL	9,800
24	Vehicle Storage (unconditioned)	800	4 vehicles, 10x20 each
8	Wood Storage (unconditioned)	800
23	Parking Area	9000	60 spaces @150 s.f. ea

Existing Infrastructure Plans

#	Building
25	Main Building- Existing Woodshop and Dormitory functions to move out into new space. Kitchen/Dining area expands on 1st floor into design studio, offices expand on 1st floor into conference room, conference room moves to South Studio space, classroom space developed on ground floor in former dormitory rooms, lounge area developed in former shop space.
23	Redevelop tennis court area as parking and redefine entry drive.
38	Remove storage shed (“carrot hut”) on edge of tennis courts.

Site Infrastructure

#	Building
56	Wastewater systems (phase 2)

Phase 3

	Building	Square Footage	Capacity
	New Entry Building including:
17	Administrative Offices	1440	8 staff, 8 interns
19	Conference Room	250	16 people
20	Entry/Lobby	400
18	Dining Area	900	60 people
18	Kitchen & Kitchen Office	700
	Storage	200
	Toilets	500
	Outdoor Dining Area	300
	Bus Shelter *if bus exists*	100
	SUBTOTAL	7,990

Existing Infrastructure Plans

#	Building
54	Remove garden shed and garden
25	Move office, kitchen/dining functions out of existing main building. Alpen Inn building renovated for design studios, library, student lounge

Site Infrastructure

#	Building
26	Build Mad River Path connection pedestrian trail
56	Wastewater systems (phase 3)

Yestermorrow Campus Master Plan

Landscaping, Screening and Lighting Guidelines

Exterior Lighting

Exterior spaces, parking lots and walkways and entrances shall be well lit to provide safe access for site users while avoiding off-site lighting and night sky pollution. All outdoor lighting (on the buildings or in the landscape) shall minimize light pollution using approved semi-cutoff or full cutoff fixture designs. Signage shall be designed with top-mounted fixtures shielded to shine light only on the sign itself.

Screening

Landscaping within the 225’ setback shall screen structures from the road to the extent required to maintain the integrity of the natural context of the scenic road, except in cases in which vegetation may inhibit solar gain, natural lighting within buildings, and solar power production.

Parking

A minimum of 60 parking spaces shall be provided.  Design elements within the parking areas may include but are not limited to pervious paving, vegetated islands, and bioswales.  Solar collectors shall also be incorporated to provide shade in the summer and reduce snow removal in the winter. All parking areas shall be accessible by well-lit paths.

Parking design shall allow for the maximum flexibility in size and number of vehicles, accommodating single cars, small and large buses, and large delivery vehicles. Allocation of parking spaces shall be at the discretion of the school and may vary seasonally. The entire parking area shall be maintained for fire truck access and snow removal throughout the year.

Core Team Minutes 12-14-12

Minutes from 12/14/12 meeting
Present: Kathy, Kinny, Abby

Question: How do we systematically review plans for correlation with principles?
-need all Core Team members present for a session of playing devil’s advocate
-Kinny took notes (see her email of 12/13/12) on principles, but we really need to step back and evaluate project as a whole
-too easy to convince ourselves that a job is being done well; can we get outside critical thinkers in?

Questions/changes for before January DRB hearing:
-Do we need an elevator in each shop/studio building? If we do, should we be clustering the contents of those buildings (combining two and having work space on either side?)
-Andres hasn’t reviewed the updated site plan for stormwater management suitability (and what about the stream continuing down to current pond, passing north of main building?)
-There’s something strange about berm/swale uphill of studio/shop buildings…seems like a swale would want to go all the way across or it wouldn’t work
-Does the initial entry view invite community in? Kathy sketched what a turn-around might look like (attached image), and landscaping could make a pedestrian entry from driveway to campus structures
-Bus stop and its infrastructure are still missing. Combine with a turn-around?
-Somehow the pole barn in the parking lot got smaller than we recalled—did we miss a change?
-Do we need to put in the Mad River Path? (Kate sketched paths a few weeks ago)
-What about landscaping? Would a narrative about screening (i.e. all existing screening will remain) suffice?

Action items:
-Kinny to ask Andres about stormwater and stream issues now that site grading is revised
-John to update CAD
-Abby to hand over Agency of Agriculture stuff to Kinny next week
-Abby will review the principles with intern perspective in mind before leaving

Core Team Minutes 12-10-12

CORE 12-10-12

·         Initial findings from Peter L showed that we don't have enough elevation difference to have the walkout arrangement shown on all out drawings...easily.

o    If the front of the school is at 784 and there is no articulation between it and the front of school building and the studio/shops then the back of the shops will need to be 794 (+ 2 or more for drainage). 

o    This gives us a grade difference of 10' between front  and back.  A flat quad between the existing school and the shops and also a big useable flat field in the upper area.

o    The new DRB date is Jan. 8th whatever is the second Tuesday in Jan
Materials need to be in the week before…..Kate will research and inform.

·         RESOLVED: Connect the building envelopes for the residential units and the shop studies.

·         RESOLVED: Kathy and Kin will be working up a turn-around for the entry.

·         RESOLVED: Remove the trees along the entry axis...or some of them.

·         RESOLVED: We need a Landscape Team to undertake the resolution of:

o    The turnaround.

o    The pedestrian access.

o    The Quad between the main building and the new buildings.

o    What the look will be through the different phases.

·         ACTION: Peter L to update the site plan

o    Topography

o    Path alignments

o    Connect all building envelopes

o    Lighting (narrative)

o    Screening (narrative)

o    Turn off old parking lot boundary

o    Label greenhouse and everything else….

Solar Team Update

Greetings Solar Team ~

Attached is the current version of the Yestermorrow campus with the center of gravity now returned to the Alpen Inn.  This change was driven by a zoning requirement that no more than 25% of existing buildings may be destroyed.  Budget and schedule also played a role.

So this is great news for those who monitor our solar income as well as many who felt the previous layout was not sufficiently compact.  The current layout is more densely configured and the buildings will receive significantly more sun.

You will see that the parking area has been turned into a solar garden with PV trellises over many of the parking areas.  It is hoped this area may be able to generate some serious electricity though certainly not all that the school uses.  Not really a traditional parking lot, this is meant to be where arrivals will leave their carbon cars and go native…or at least electric.  It is also meant to be a multi-purpose area where the school can host farmers’ markets, flea sales, civic functions and other informal events.  Serving all these functions makes it an important design gesture that goes beyond mere parking.

Currently this draft plan is in the hands of our civil engineer who is working out the topography, septic, and drainage issues.  The results will be combined with our forestry plan, feedback form the Dept. of Agriculture, the storm water study and various other input we have been collecting.

I send it along to keep the Solar Field Team current and invite input.  We are trying to make progress even during the holidays.  Things are moving along nicely but we have put our DRB (Design Review Board) presentation on hold in order to have time to embrace the fullest spectrum of input.

I will send an updated version as soon as we get something back from the civil.  Don’t wait to give any feedback you might have.

Thanks for your thoughts!

John