The first Passive House certified school in Maine in Cumberland, ME

The new school features airy classrooms filled with natural light, large windows overlooking walking trails, and play areas. Most of the interior wood was harvested directly from the site, some in lengths of up to 26 feet long. This white pine runs throughout the school, including the undulating ceiling of the Big Room, which lifts the eyes and the spirit toward the sun as it streams through the trees along the creek to the south. A 12-foot-wide door folds away, opening onto an outdoor amphitheater for performances, and a bridge connects the upper level to a playfield to the east.

The Friends School is the first Passive House-certified school in Maine (only the third built in the entire country). The new school has the goal of generating 100% of its own energy on-site through photovoltaic panels, reducing future operation costs dramatically and decreasing the school’s dependence on fundraising or drawing on its endowment.

This project was completed while Morgan Law was a project manager and designer at Kaplan Thompson Architects. It received several awards, including Maine AIA COTE Merit Award, Maine AIA Special Detail Recognition, AIA New England Institutional.