St. Mark’s Faculty Housing

St. Mark’s Faculty Housing – Sustainable Residential Design by RUHL | JAHNES

Ruhl Walker Architects (currently RUHL | JAHNES) designed for St. Mark's School six units of sustainable faculty housing as part of a master plan for a new north campus. The three two-family houses uphold the immediate goals of both RUHL | JAHNES Architects and St. Mark's School for responsible environmental stewardship. They demonstrate several key principles of sustainable home design and architecture. This project upholds the immediate goals of both Ruhl Jahnes and St. Mark's School for responsible environmental stewardship and demonstrates sustainable home design and architecture to manage the impact on our environment.

The project was finished under budget, and a month earlier than the 12 month schedule (design and construction) thanks to an innovative design / prefabrication / construction process initiated by the architecture team.

The new houses are connected to the strong existing campus plan geometry by the creation of a new pedestrian path, anchored to a major campus building, and linking to an existing sports field, thus joining the faculty families to the school fabric and transforming the field from a fragment at the edge of the campus to a new figural space which can help organize future campus expansion and consolidation.

How Eco-Friendly Architecture Sets Example for Students

A critical objective for the architecture and design was to ensure that the deployment of resources for this project would not only uphold the immediate goals of St. Mark's for responsible environmental stewardship, but would also demonstrate to the students and the broader community sustainable ways to manage the substantial impact we all have on our environment.

Sustainable Design Features of St. Mark’s Housing

Virtually everything that went into this sustainable project was chosen for its minimal environmental impact (from careful site selection to fiber cement siding with fly-ash content, low-VOC paints, countertops of recycled glass, bamboo floors, super-efficient HVAC systems, xeriscape landscaping, and dual-flush toilets that will save 19,000 gallons.