Portable classrooms are meant to be cheap, movable and temporary. They are commonly chosen to address overcrowding in schools across the country. However, the manufactured structures often are neither being moved nor used temporarily.
Because of changing demographics and consistently tight budgets, portables built to last for only a decade or two are still being used 60 years later. As schools in Oregon and across the country continue to add portable classrooms, a group of architects and researchers is now working to find ways to improve the prototypes without raising costs.
“In the best of all worlds we wouldn’t be building portables anymore – brick-and-mortar structures are more durable,” said Sergio Palleroni, associate professor of architecture at Portland State University and co-director of its Oregon BEST Green Building Research Lab.
But Palleroni predicts that for most schools, the manufactured classrooms will be used for decades to come, so improvements are important for elements like lighting, air quality and energy usage.
Innovations in modular classrooms are nothing new – Da Vinci Arts Middle School in Northeast Portland has a LEED platinum portable classroom, for example. But it cost more than $900,000. Other modular classrooms in the district, purchased from Modern Building Systems, cost about $250,000 according to Matt Shelby, spokesman for Portland Public Schools.
“(Portables) are tightly engineered – they meet minimum specifications and manufacturers have figured out how to do it as cheaply as possible,” said Margarette Leite, assistant professor of architecture at PSU. “Our goal is to build a prototype that won’t cost the district any more than a regular portable but will be 10 times better in terms of health and energy and educational value.”
Leite and Palleroni, who are partners in architecture firm PLDP, in 2010 began working with colleagues to re-imagine the portable classroom. The work caught the attention of Gov. Kitzhaber’s office, which led to support from Oregon Solutions, a program of the National Policy Consensus Center.
The “Green Portable Classroom” project moved forward with design work this summer, fostered by a $36,000 grant from PSU’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions. Blazer Industries, a modular building manufacturer based in Aumsville, is donating engineering and consulting services.
In addition to its design work, the project team has developed strategies to make the improved structures easier to pencil out for school districts.
For example, the team is revising foundation construction, which it contends will increase long-term value.
“The current ones are really not that portable,” Palleroni said. “If they were truly portable, then (district officials) wouldn’t need to buy as many – they could move them around as the population changes and as each school needs, or sell them to another district.”
If the designs do end up increasing costs, though, the team will seek short-term solutions to avoid burdening the districts financially.
“Power companies might have incentives to contribute to these projects,” Leite said, “or manufacturers of windows and other components.”
Marv Shetler, president of Blazer Industries, believes portable classrooms can and should be good environments. But he is skeptical that some of the proposed design improvements can be accomplished without cost increases.
“When buying portables, people tend to not want to spend much money. Sometimes you get what you pay for, sad to say,” he said. “If they want comfort in terms of heating and (air conditioning), then they may have to spend more money than they’re used to spending.”
And most school districts are not in the business of spending more money. Shelby said it would be a “no-brainer” for PPS to choose more sustainable portables if they were available at the same cost. The district this summer installed three more of the standard models, bringing PPS’ total number of portables up to 129.
The team is identifying prices for a series of potential designs and will eventually create models to test their performance. The goal is to have up to three of the redesigned portable classrooms installed and ready to use for the 2012 school year.
“There are better options for portable classrooms,” Palleroni said. “We are working to build a Mercedes at the cost of a Ford.”