The SAGE Modular Classroom: Why it’s Working and What it May Offer for Today’s Challenging Climate
The SAGE Classroom, the sustainable, affordable modular learning environment designed by Portland State University School of Architecture students and faculty, received its fifth award from the Modular Building Institute in March 2020 for the first place Award of Distinction in the “Green Building” category. Margarette Leite, Associate Professor of Architecture and Fellow, Center for Public Interest Design of the School of Architecture at Portland State University, will present the award-winning project and discuss what makes it different and how it fits into the educational, environmental and health-conscious needs of today’s schools.
Margarette Leite is a licensed architect, Associate Professor of Architecture at Portland State University and a Fellow at the Center for Public Interest Design. She teaches building technology, materials research and community engaged design/build. Her work as an architect and educator is directed at creating community-engaged teaching and research-based initiatives that leverage community and industry partnerships to solve real world problems.
SAGE Interior Rendering
These initiatives include the design and dissemination of healthier modular classrooms in partnership with national distributor Pacific Mobile, and modular manufacturer Blazer Industries. The SAGE green modular classroom (Smart Academic Green Environment) was designed with student and faculty talent and has garnered numerous awards including an international SEED Award for “Social, Economic and Environmental Design,” as well as its fifth award from the Modular Building Institute in March for the first place Award of Distinction in the “Green Building” category for the first SAGE multi-classroom complex.
Edmonds Exterior Windows
The classroom is in high demand among school communities across the Pacific Northwest resulting in over 120 classrooms in place, answering the need of for modular spaces with 100% air exchange, light neutrality, energy efficiency and healthy materials. Classroom options have expanded from single, double and triple classroom units to multi-classroom complexes to a full two-story school campus building that is currently in design. In addition, construction is underway on the first Canadian prototype in partnership with the ATCO company.
The need for healthier options for students and teachers has never been greater and healthier modular options, like SAGE, may be poised to offer greeter spatial flexibility and improved air quality particularly during times of crisis like the one we currently face. Ms. Leite looks forward to sharing the story of the SAGE classroom and to discussing how it fits into the current environment surrounding healthy schools.
Award-Winning Multiroom Classroom Complex