Why Build?
Over a number of years, the Meeting has found that we have outgrown our current facilities; the problems are most acute for the first day school and the activities of the hospitality committee but are felt by many more groups within the Meeting as well. After careful study, the Facilities Design Committee determined that renovation was not an adequate answer to these needs and recommended that the Meeting build a new structure to address these requirements in a comprehensive way. With the Meeting's approval, the Facilities Design Committee, then, interviewed and recommended an architect to propose possible building plans. The following document is an overview from March 2007 of the reports from various committees outlining the current problems and the needs in renovation.How To Build? —Guidance From The Green Sub-Committee
Vision:
- Quaker tradition-care of the earth and its resources
- Today's crises-global warming, limited resources
- Quaker values expressed today-"green," "sustainable"
- Our new building-seen as a testimony, a green model
Current Community House:
- Inefficient use of energy
- Inadequate, inefficiently designed space
The New Building:
- Carbon neutral as possible
- Most efficient heating/cooling system-
- Geothermal or other "off the grid" solutions
- Maximum natural light
- Maximum use of recycled/sustainable materials
Instruction to our Architect:
Within our financial constraints, all newly built or renovated buildings of Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting should be built comparable to at least the minimum level of green certification offered by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) as specified in the "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" (L.E.E.D.) standard
