Lessons in Sustainability
By Mary E. Kremposky, Associate Editor PHOTO BY DAVID ROSE PHOTOGRAPHY
Gas was about .25 cents a gallon and green was just a color when Henry Ford High School was originally constructed in 1955. Of course, much has changed since that golden age of cheap gas and canned food. With the recent completion of a fullscale renovation, Henry Ford High School, itself, has moved far beyond the fifties and is now part of the 21st Century’s collective experiment in sustainability. Two Detroit firms – KEO & Associates, Inc. and CM Partners Architects – paired with McCarthy & Smith, Inc., Farmington Hills, and DiClemente Siegel Design, Inc., Southfield, to create an outdoor sustainability courtyard nestled in the very center of this 250,000-square-foot school complex.
Students can view the courtyard’s four vertical axis wind turbines rotating in the wind and watch the sedum come to life on the pavilion’s green roof, thanks to the project’s architectural partners and KEO-McCarthy & Smith Team, LLC. Along with two sustainable technology labs, Henry Ford High School now has the tools it needs for the development of a cutting-edge Sustainability Academy within this northwest Detroit high school.