Daylight is No Gamble for Las Vegas Middle School

Cash at the roulette wheel isn't the only thing pouring into Las Vegas. A seemingly ceaseless flood of families, retirees and single people continue to move to the city and surrounding area, pushing development further and further out into the southern Nevada desert. According to the Las Vegas Tribune, figures released in March 2001 assert that Clark County, which encompasses the gambling mecca, is absorbing 6,000 new citizens every month. Even before the 1990s had ended, however, children from those households were already overflowing every classroom and hallway in the Clark County School District.

Nevertheless, when students headed back to class in the fall of 2000, there was room for 1,750 more of them at the brand new, $17 million Clifford J. Lawrence Middle School. Instead of a single building, the middle school is a complex of distinct structures, each with a different function: classrooms, administration, library space, a gymnasium, lunch area, and art and music. The entire facility is tied together by a system of both covered and uncovered courtyards.

Kalwall Beats The Heat

As with any educational environment, the school needed a way to control daylight as it entered the buildings; to do away with the eye-straining glare on chalkboards and computer screens so common with conventional glass windows. Moreover, with desert temperatures often reaching well over 100° F., solar gain had to be controlled to minimize air conditioning costs.

David Pugsley of Welles-Pugsley Architects, the firm which designed Lawrence Middle School, says Kalwall was the perfect solution. "There's a very special something about the quality of natural daylight you get with Kalwall. The panel is translucent, so the light you get is controlled and without glare. That same control cuts down on cooling loads and saves money, an advantage you can't get with clear glass windows."

Kalwall shows up in several places within the school, including large curtainwall sections in the gymnasium. "Because Kalwall eliminates sharp contrasts," adds Pugsley, "the lighting for sports is ideal. It's a heck of a lot easier to see the ball." The diffuse-light-transmitting panels bring outside light inside, creating museum-quality daylight free of hot spots and shadows.

Daylighting is also incorporated into the main entrance. Says Pugsley, "there's a cheerful warmth to the front lobby as you walk in. There's no doubt in my mind that when students feel more positive about their environment, they are much more ready to learn. And by the way, when the building is lit up inside at night for a school function -- game, concert, play -- the Kalwall creates a glowing, inviting effect when seen from the outside."

A Sure Bet

There's another, very practical reason why Kalwall is ideal for any number of applications. "All these aesthetic concerns are important," Pugsley says, smiling. "But the simple fact is, Kalwall is also amazingly easy to install and maintain. The very lightweight panels are prefabricated at the factory in New Hampshire and trucked straight to the building site. We save a lot of time and installation costs that way." On remodeling and rehab jobs, window systems are actually installed in buildings while school is in session.

Pugsley is sold on Kalwall. "If you want to throw money away here in Las Vegas, head for the casinos. But for any public school system on a tight budget, Kalwall is always a sure bet."

Architectural Team: Welles-Pugsley Architects, Las Vegas, Nevada

Kalwall Specifications:
Light Transmission: 15%
Solar Heat Gain Coefficient: walls 0.15, skylight 0.16
U-Factor: .23TB & .29 (GT-3) by NFRC
Panel Color: exterior White, interior White
Trim Color: walls Custom Teal, skylight White

For more information, contact:

Bruce Keller
Kalwall Corporation
1-800-258-9777