Ravensford project will provide green schools for the Cherokee

An illustration of the campus layout, facing north (created by Padgett and Freeman Architects).

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) is developing a pre-K through 12 education campus in Cherokee. True to their culture of connectivity and respect for their natural surroundings, the EBCI is committed to building a campus dedicated to preserving the natural environment that sustains it.

The Ravensford school project may be the largest green building project in the region. Including elementary, middle and high schools, the project involves architects and consultants from around North Carolina. The EBCI and Padgett & Freeman Architects of Asheville aim to achieve the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED(tm)) Program’s silver rating for the building. LEED(tm)’s Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.

A 144-acre tract of land obtained through a land exchange with the National Park Service is the location for the new education campus. The site abuts the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Oconaluftee and Raven Fork rivers. The arrangement of the site is determined by a 100- and 500-year flood plain where athletic fields, playgrounds and parking will be placed. Educational buildings will be located outside the flood plain and at least 100 feet from the edge of the wetlands. Structures are being designed to follow the contours of the hillside.

The project site is one of the most significant Cherokee sites in existence in terms of archaeology. TRC of Chapel Hill will explore the site and recover data before construction. Evidence of human occupation at the site dates to approximately 8,000 B.C. The Cherokee people controlled the Ravensford site until 1798, when European-Americans settled and farmed the valley. In 1918, the site and surrounding land was bought by a lumber company. A train system was established, and the town of Ravensford was built. In 1934, the property was acquired by the National Park Service to establish the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In a land exchange in 2003, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians regained the site for a school campus.

All students will be housed on one campus to encourage community and sharing of both traditional culture and resources. A central spine links the three schools and forms the community space. A guiding principle for the school’s design is that buildings be flexible to meet current and future educational programs, teaching techniques, technological requirements and enrollment.  Nonbearing interior partitions will encourage the reassignment of space as needed without having to alter expensive structural elements. Exposed structure and HVAC ductwork is proposed to allow the building itself to be a teaching tool.

A greenway connecting the school with downtown Cherokee will promote safe pedestrian transportation to and from the campus. Preferred parking spaces for hybrid vehicles and carpoolers will be located closest to the entrances. A percentage of the required parking lots will allow water to seep into the ground instead of entering the storm water system. Rain gardens and earth berms between parking areas will help with storm water retention and filtration. In addition, the school bus provider is researching the potential of converting the bus fleet from diesel fuel to biodiesel.

Landscaping will include indigenous plants that will shade parking lots and walkways. Culturally significant plants and crops will be incorporated to enhance science, Cherokee art and history curriculums. Based on needed water capacity, the courts will use high-efficiency irrigation technology from rainwater captured on the roof. Outdoor classrooms, a biology pavilion, a greenhouse, nature trails, wetland platforms and stream-ecology trails are planned to encourage discovery of natural systems and enhance science programs.

Strategies to reduce water use will be realized. In addition to indigenous, drought-tolerant plants that require little or no irrigation, efficient fixtures and waterless urinals will be specified to reduce the amount of potable water demand. For educational purposes, rainwater will be used for sewage conveyance in some public areas. The dry stream feature in the courtyard is designed to allow flow during rain and to be a dry bed in drought.

The design of the new facility will help minimize long-term operational and environmental costs through energy-efficient design principles. A proposed geothermal heating and cooling system would use the constant temperature of the earth to reduce loads on individual air-handling units within the building. Structural insulated panels are being considered for exterior wall assemblies and the roof.

State-of-the-art daylighting systems will reduce the heat loads associated with artificial lighting and could help improve student performance. Research by the Heshong-Mahone Group for Pacific Gas & Electric indicated that a classroom well lit with daylight can improve student performance 7 to 18 percent. Dormers at each upper level classroom allow for daylighting, and tubes from the roof will transport sunlight to lower-level classrooms. Shading devices on the exterior of the building will protect vision glass from direct heat gain and glare, and light shelves on the interior will reflect sunlight onto brightly painted ceilings, dispersing it deeply into the classroom.

At least 50 percent of construction and land-clearing waste will be recycled or salvaged from the site. All brush and small trees have been mulched and kept on site to use in the final landscaping plan. Larger trees will be milled at a nearby sawmill, and lumber will be used in the new buildings or donated to the Cherokee High School woodworking program. Material selection will give preference to materials that are rapidly renewable, nontoxic and low-emitting, and products made with recycled content. Sustainably-harvested wood will be specified when possible.

The Ravensford school project will be a resource for community-wide environmental education and a model for schools nationwide. The project reflects the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ interest in environmental sustainability and Western North Carolina’s commitment to green building.

Consultants for the project include:

Padgett & Freeman Architects, PA
LEED consultant - Western North Carolina Green Building Council
Electrical engineer - Vreeland Engineers
Structural engineer - Newcastle Design Group, PLLC
Mechanical-plumbing engineer - Engineering Services Group, P.C.
Civil engineer - Civil Design Concepts
Commissioning firm - Engineering Economics Inc.
Daylighting analysis - Brown & Jones Architects
Energy modeling - Consider Design, PA
Landscape architect - Cloos Landscape Architecture
Project manager - Construction Control Corporation
[Maggie Carnevale may be reached at or at Padgett & Freeman Architects at 254-1963.]

Mother Earth’s spring dress

And this time of year
our Mother Earth has worked all winter long
in making her dress,
beautiful dress,
but it’s green.
‘Bout the early spring she adds some flowers to it.
And whenever she gets ready
she drops her skirt down the mountainside,
you can see it across the mountain
downhill,
all her skirt is full
with all the flowers
dogwood flowers, azaleas,
and all kinds of flowers.
That’s our Mother’s skirt
that she had worked on all winter long.
So rejoice in it
and try to keep it clean
this is our Mother Earth that we walk on.

- by the late Edna Chekelelee, in “Living Stories of the Cherokee,” edited by Barbara Duncan (University of North Carolina Press, 1998)