Allen Weinstein SWIFT for Kids Outdoor Classroom

Project Green Build is proud to present the Allen Weinstein SWIFT for Kids Outdoor Classroom project as a demonstration of natural building, hands-on learning and K-12 sustainability curriculum. The Outdoor Classroom will be the first natural-built "green" classroom in Clark County, Washington. This new project is a collaborative effort of the At Home At School program of WSU Vancouver (AHAS), Project Green Build, and Columbia Springs. Completion is slated for August, 2009.

The classroom will be built on the Columbia Springs campus and will be used by more than 7,500 students each year to engage in hands-on environmental learning. 75 youth from WSU-Vancouver’s At Home At School (AHAS) program, which provides after school and summer education for K-12 students who are homeless or living in transitional housing, will be lead by Project Green Build to construct the classroom. The classroom is a replicable project that will link K-12 sustainability standards to curriculum.

The approximately 700 square foot classroom will be built using cordwood construction and will be able to fit 32 students and instructors.

So Easy Even a 4th Grader could do it!

Participants will have the opportunity to participate in every aspect of the classroom’s creation. The students will visit a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forest, where they will choose which trees will be cut down and assist in the milling process of the lumber. The students will help construct the about-700-square-foot classroom this summer.

Using the cordwood technique, the classroom will use short logs (called “log ends”) laid up crossways to frame the walls, which will be filled in with mortar and will include decorative patterns designed by the students. The roof will be lightweight, planted with seedum and wildflowers grown by students prior to the building’s completion.

Cordwood masonry is an ancient building technique by which walls are constructed of short logs -- called "log ends" -- laid up transversely in a wall (Roy, 2008), much the same a row of cordwood, or firewood, is stacked. The post and beam frame structure allows the roof to go on before any cordwood is done. The cordwood masonry, therefore, will be installed under the umbrella protection of the roof by students, allowing them to work with under protection from the sun and rain. In the end, cordwood is esthetically pleasing, low in cost, environmentally sound, and so easy to build that a 4th grader could do it!

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

CURRICULUM

Students involved with the AHAS program will be involved in every aspect of the classroom's creation. Instruction will include field trips to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forests to select trees to be used in the classroom and learn about nature and biology.

When the demonstration project is completed, Project Green Build will have a fully replicable project, complete with curriculum linked to K-12 standards.

PROJECT TEAM

PLANS

Cordwood Plans

PRESS & NEWS

The Vancouver Voice - January 2, 2009
"BY YOUTH, FOR YOUTH"

The Columbian- December 11, 2008
SWIFT takes last bow- Charitable foundation goes out on high note with three final grants

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS