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Transforming Shaw Montessori into a
Living Learning Laboratory
Augustus H. Shaw Montessori
Amy Shuchert
GreenLight Solutions
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Project Scope
This project focuses on the school courtyard, transforming it into a shaded, water efficient living laboratory empowering learning
through exploration, natural landscape manipulation, and sustainable education. The campus learning environment will include
desert-adapted vegetation which will serve to mitigate the urban heat island effect currently experienced on campus, while providing
natural shading. The vegetation will draw upon the Shaw campus water supply in terms of rainfall and possibly grey water. This project
will provide small and large group gathering locations, creating destination hubs for students and faculty. Re-development of the
outdoor space will include dining space for children to eat in a comfortably shaded environment, an amphitheater for events and
classes to take place, and a redesign of spaces meant for pedestrians with a focus on flow.
Site Plan
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Outdoor Amphitheatre
Location:
● The grassy area on the southeast corner of
Shaw campus, which is currently home to the
unsightly sewage drain
● Construction Options:
○ The Amphitheater can be built on top
of the drain (placing the stage atop the
drain), given enough time to
re-structure the piping
○ The Amphitheater can be built further
east, avoiding the drain completely
Materials & Features:
● Permeable pavement in the stage area and
lining the steps
● Treated wood paneling around the vertical
portions of the steps/seats
● Grass grown on the interior horizontal portions
of the steps for contextualization
● Built to hold one full class (approx. 30
students)
Outdoor Seating & Lunch Area
Location:
● Corridor immediately outside cafeteria
Materials & Features
● Various materials available for tables
and chairs (wood, reclaimed wood, plastics,
metal, cardboard, etc.)
● Material style mixing available -- adds
character to the space
● Enough seating and table space to hold
one full class (approx. 30 students)
● Freestanding/Moveable tables and
chairs
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Shading
Canvas Options
Retailers:
● (USA Shade)
● Must Call for Estimate
This design would be best used for the
outdoor seating areas, due to fewer
obstructing beams in ground.
● Provides for a smaller, compact
design.
This design would be a great fit for the auditorium area.
● Sturdy shading structure which covers a large area.
● Can be customized -- notice the added speakers
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Wood Shading Structures
Cost will depend on size and exact material (i.e. type of wood)
● Possible retailers of wood: Home Depot
● Depending on the complexity of the design, may need to contract builders
Either of the two pictured designs would
work well as spot-shading options for any
space on campus
● Outdoor amphitheatre
● Gardens
● Outdoor Seating area
● Administrative Courtyard
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Urban Ecology
Living Walls
Utilizing the empty hallway wall space to provide an interactive learning feature, stimulate imagination, and green the
campus through sustainable practices.
Moss Wall
Also referred to as moss art, a moss wall for
the Montessori campus would be a creative,
green hallway feature allowing passing
students to experience active growth daily by
watering at any time with a tethered spray
bottle
Incorporating a moss wall would:
● Present educational opportunities for
teachers
● Create an active learning experience for
students as
Construction & Implementation:
● Campus Work Day
● Simple project involving age-appropriate classrooms
Care:
● Interactive and non-time consuming spray bottle
watering
● Watering which can be accomplished by dividing
responsibility amongst classrooms
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Succulent Wall
A succulent wall is an artsy twist on greening a campus while taking advantage of open hallway space throughout the
campus.
Not just pleasant to look at:
● Water efficient greening strategy
● Can withstand full sun exposure.
● Succulents are Montessori approved desert-adapted
plants
Construction & Implementation:
● Select assortment of smaller succulent plants
● Arrange succulents in a planter box
● Mount planter box on wall
Interactive educational opportunities:
● Allow for watering with a tethered spray bottle
● Provide tags next to each species (name, origin, uses,
how plants function in the desert ecosystem)
Vertical Garden
The beauty of a vertical garden is that the system takes up minimal
space and is not limited to any specific type of garden that may be
implemented (herb, vegetable, pollinator, succulent/desert plants)
Integrated watering system [options]:
● Rooftop stormwater catchment system
● Gray water pumping system (constructed in the campus
courtyard)
Construction & Implementation:
● Planters will be 4 ft 6 inches tall so children will be able to
interact
● Simple to build - stacking water bottles on top of one another
with soil and seed inside;
Campus Work Day
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Bug boxes/ Bug Hotel
Bug boxes and/or Bug Hotels would be a fantastic means of keeping the on-site ecosystem well-pollinated. These
simple features serve the purpose of attracting a variety of insects necessary for pollinating (i.e. bees, ladybugs,
moths, etc).
Creation and Implementation:
● Inexpensive and low time consuming
● The boxes take up little space and
Maintenance:
● Features can be made from scraps of wood or twigs
bundled together with string and assembled in a similar
fashion.
Educational Opportunities:
● Learning based on bugs living in the system at any
given time
● Resident bugs will change based on the season
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Pollinator Garden
A pollinator garden includes plants which can
provide essential habitats for bees, butterflies,
moths, beetles, hummingbirds, and other
pollinators (flies, beetles etc). Constructing a
pollinator garden in the courtyard of the Shaw
campus would provide the benefits of further
campus greening through utilizing Montessori
approved desert-adapted plants which serve to
attract native fauna. Incorporating a pollinator
garden is the main focus of enhancing the
onsite biophilic aspects which will promote
education and overall campus beauty.
Educational Opportunities:
● Boundless!
● Students can learn about topics ranging
from ecosystem services, ecology
principles, and landscaping techniques
within and around the garden itself.
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Cacti:Prickly Pear Large Shrub:Wood Rose (Perennial)
Medium Shrub:Sage (attracts birds, bees, and butterflies) Small Shrub: Lavender (Perennial and
attracts honey bees)
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Bee Hive
An on-campus beehive presents an unmatched option for keeping the campus ecosystem alive and well. Precautions
would need to be taken to ensure child safety and to account for any allergies (ie placement and stingless bees)
Intelligent Placement:
● Can be placed on the edge of campus to
avoid disturbance during high traffic times.
Best Options:
● Flow Hive - makes domestication of bees
easy and low maintenance. The honey
harvest is a simple process as the design of
the Flow Hive allows for easy access and
distribution.
Educational Opportunities:
● Can address ecosystem services, life cycles,
etc.
Description:
● Flow Hive™ system is a plastic half-built comb which face each other. The added bees finish off and connect
up the rest of the hive, fill it with honey, and cap it. When the beekeeper is ready, they turn a key allowing for
the two plastic hive foundations to crack apart and the honey flows out down a channel into a spout down to
the jars provided below.
Butterfly Terrarium:
While the pollinator garden will attract butterflies on campus,
having an on site butterfly terrarium would close the loop of
pollinators-to-garden by creating a home for butterflies on the
campus.
Features
● Includes larvae, caterpillars and butterflies purchased
and dispersed locally to thrive within a tent or other
constructed feature (i.e greenhouse, dependent on
space) near the garden itself
Concerns
● High maintenance feature
● Knowledge specific to the butterfly life cycle and keeping
would have to be introduced along with implementation to a responsible party.
Educational Opportunities:
● Learning about life cycles, ecosystem services, butterfly roles as a pollinator and their migratory behaviors
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Water Use & Features
Grey Water
Definition: “Graywater” means wastewater collected separately from a sewage flow that originates from a clothes
washer, bathtub, shower, and sink, but does not include wastewater from a kitchen sink, dishwasher, or toilet. (AZ
Public Services)
● For Shaw Montessori, greywater refers to water from bathroom sinks - we would not consider utilizing water
from toilets.
● Proper filtration systems can cost into the tens of thousands (Negative)
○ Due to high cost, difficulty of pumping, and a lengthy water classification permit process, Greywater
use from sinks and bathrooms will not be feasible for this project.
● To utilize grey water:
○ Water must be kept out of reach of children
○ Water must be kept in a closed system - water cannot be “standing” for a longer than 24-hour period
● Best Option: Utilize graywater in a “Leaky Tank” system, in which water flows from sinks through pipes to an
underground tank, which leaks into the surrounding soil to water plants
Irrigation
● To irrigate anything on the school campus we need Class A filtered Water
Rainwater Catchment System
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Living Learning Laboratory
Interactive Systems Wall
A multi-panel display where students can touch, read,
think and talk about a few of the systems that they
come in contact with either in or out of school.
Holistic Water System:
● By pouring water into the top, students
experience the process of how water trickles
down through its various roles in the
environment. Relevant text labels explain the
functions that H2O serves along the way.
Urban Water System:
● This panel shows how water is taken from a
source and used by humans. First, it is filtered
through a water treatment facility. Next, it is
used by different sectors such as agriculture,
industry, business & households. Finally, water is
piped to a wastewater treatment facility before
being piped to another location, either
underground or into a water body.
The Food Wheel:
● After eating their lunch, students are encouraged to dump
the remaining contents into the top of this panel,
contributing to an ongoing compost display that displays the
process of decomposition. A large wheel is attached to the
outside which turns a mechanism on the inside and churns
the compost.
Food Web Panel:
● This panel would show the interconnectedness of the
different tertiary levels (producers, consumers,
decomposers) and in particular, Arizonan wildlife. It could
incorporate vegetation used on campus as a way of
explaining why specific vegetation was chosen.
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Grants/Funding
As of October 21st, 2015, this GreenLight Solutions Project team is pursuing 4 grants.
The search for grants is ongoing. Many will be found and applied to throughout the course of the project.
1) Woodside Grant: $1,500 I Due Oct. 25, 2015 - 11:59 PM
a) ASU Changemaker Grant
2) Changemaker Challenge: up to $5,000 I Due Nov. 22, 2015 - 06:00 PM
a) ASU Changemaker Grant
3) The Pollination Project: $1,000 I Due Date Unknown
a) The Pollination Project Grant
4) Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Grant: $2,000 I Due Oct. 31st, 2015
a) Whole Foods Whole Kids Foundation
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