An Interview with David Soleau, AIADavidSoleau ispresidentand CEOof Flans-burghAssociates,Inc., a

Boston-based architectural firmthat has designed museums,office buildings, and major resi-dential projects. Soleau’s ownwork has centered on designingschools, yet even he found him-self thrown a few curves whenFAI was selected to transformMontessori School of Maui’svision for a sustainable campusexpansion into reality.

SOLEAU: It was a wonderfulproject to work on, not onlybecause of the collaborationamong trustees, administration,teachers, children and parents;but because of a real dedica-tion to the Montessori philos-ophy in a planned, environ-mental campus expansion.That collaboration and synergydo not happen often.

MOMI: How did that collabora-tion inform your design?

SOLEAU: We approached it notso much as an architecturalproject, but as a community oflearning centers within thelandscape. To make the build-ings unobtrusive in scale, andfitting in with the environment,we broke them down into thesmallest components possible:one or two classrooms con-nected through walkways andloggias. And all of the buildingswill have large lanais with win-dowed walls that slide open, sothat part of the classroombecomes the lanai.

MOMI: What makes these build-ings “sustainable”?

SOLEAU: The use of natural andrecycled materials as much aspossible. And we’re bringing inclear-story lighting, up high on

the roofs, to provide natural light.You’ll get a sense both of theplane of the earth, and a view ofthe sky, a sense of being out-doors. Except on very overcast orrainy days, these classroomsshould not need incandescent orfluorescent light.

We’re using big roof overhangsfor solar and rain protection, andthe buildings themselves will beoriented toward the trade winds.We designed a prototype shut-ter, very inexpensive, that can beclosed against rain, but isdesigned to be left open most ofthe time. The trades will blowthrough, but ventilate up high.

MOMI: So the high ceilings have apurpose beyond an aestheticacknowledgment of traditionalPolynesian architecture?

SOLEAU: There will be a lot ofvolume inside the buildings, a lot

of air moving slowly, not a strongbreeze at table level, blowingpapers around.

MOMI: Did you come away fromthis project with ideas you canincorporate elsewhere?

SOLEAU: We’re designing lots ofschools in South Carolina andGeorgia. The attitude there is,“Let’s air-condition everything

Located 1,500 feet up the wind-ward slopes of the mountain

Haleakala, Montessori School of Mauienjoys cool mornings, warm after-noons, and frequent showers thatblow in from the east on prevailingtrade winds. To accommodate theschool’s desire for natural light andventilation, while sheltering the class-rooms from sun and rain, FlansburghAssociates conceived a prototypeshutter ingenious in its simplicity.

Rows of windows set 15 or 20 feetup east- and west-facing walls allowair to circulate gently throughout the

classrooms. The windows arescreened, but instead of panes ofglass, they are bisected by a longshutter that can pivot from hori-zontal to vertical. “It takes very lit-tle effort to operate the pull cord,”says FAI principal architect Al Ross.“[The shutter] is balanced such thatit will close by its own weight.”Open, the shutter creates a reflec-tive light shelf, allowing inhabitantsto control the amount of naturallight entering the room. Closed, itprotects against slanting rain, andthe glare of the lowering sun.

The Latest Scoop . . .

We welcome news, questions and comments from our readers!

Cynthia Winans-Burns

Head of Schoolcynthiab@momi.org

Jennifer Drake

Naturalist-in-Residencejenniferd@momi.org

Klaus Simmer

President, Board of Directors

2933 Baldwin AvenueMakawao, HI 96768

On the last day of classes, middle schoolers

test-drive the car they’ve made from recycled

materials. One lessons learned:

Growing sunflowers for biofuel only works if

the birds don’t eat all the seeds first.

School in British Columbia, Canada, in itsChallenge 2020 program. Each schoolresearched the depletion of stock in localand global fisheries, then collaborated onsolutions. . . . LEED gift: The Dowling Foun-dation presented Montessori School of Mauiwith a $50,000 grant that will help to pay forMOMI’s LEED certification process. A pro-gram of the U.S. Green Building Council, LEEDstands for Leadership in Energy and Environ-mental Design—concepts championed byMaui developer Everett Dowling, whose chil-dren, Jack and Caroleena, attended Montes-sori of Maui. “This is where society’s bestideas take root, with our children,” Dowlingwrote. “What better way to help teach kidsthe importance of protecting the environ-ment than for them to see those values atwork in their own school.” . . . On a roll: Stu-dents in MOMI’s lower-elementary JacarandaClass raised nearly $2,000, selling marblesand hand-sewn marble bags to the MOMIcommunity. Those funds will help pay for aphotovoltaic panel. . . . Where there’s a wili-wili: A proud Dr. Art Medeiros was in the

audience when MOMI’s Wiliwili Class presented aplay dramatizing their experiences, collecting andpreserving more than 32,000 wiliwili seeds. Aresearch biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey,Dr. Medeiros supervised the students’ efforts tosave this endangered native Hawaiian tree from theinvasive gall wasp.

News from and about Montessori School of Maui

News we love to share: Boston-based archi-tects Flansburgh Associates, Inc., received a2007 DesignShare Award of Merit for theirinnovative design for Montessori School ofMaui’s campus expansion. DesignShare is aninternational association honoring excel-lence in school architecture, especially in itsfocus on students and learning; its partnersinclude the American Architectural Founda-tion’s Great Schools by Design, and theGeorge Lucas Educational Foundation’s Edu-topia. DesignShare received submissionsfrom 16 states and 11 foreign countries, fromwhich it selected four Honor and nine MeritAwards. One juror called MOMI’s design oneof the best he had seen in the entire compe-tition. “This is one of the very few that isconscious about the need for students toexperience the outdoors, experience nature,and demonstrate in the design itself, goodenvironmental stewardship.” Clearly, theforce is with us. . . . And in other interna-tional news: The National Association ofIndependent Schools selected MontessoriSchool of Maui to partner with Southridge

w printed on recycled paper

In the fall of

2006, con-

tractors began

site preparation

for the upper-

elementary and

middle-school classrooms, the

multipurpose building and play-

ing field that will complete the

Montessori School of Maui

campus.Bulldozers and graders are

not exactly what Maria Montes-sori had in mind when, morethan a century ago, sheespoused the concept of the“prepared environment.” Whatshe meant was a settingequipped with the educationaltools appropriate to the child’sstage of development. Yet shealso talked about “teachablemoments,” those serendipitousopportunities for genuine learn-ing that come not from lecturesand lesson plans, but from the

child’s own exploration and dis-covery. They occur outdoors innature, Dr. Montessori believed,as much, if not more, than in themanmade environment of theclassroom. “To go out of theclassroom,” she said, “to enterthe outside world which

includes everything, is obviouslyto open an immense door tolearning.”

Our campus expansion offersmany such teachable moments.Its significance lies not in itsscale, but in its mission of sus-tainability, and in the integrationof “green” building practices andan outdoor “living campus” withthe Montessori curriculum.

Long before those contrac-tors arrived at our UpcountryMaui campus, our students weredoing their own “site prepara-tion”: surveying slopes and ele-vations to determine the poten-tial effects of storm runoff;researching the plants and ani-mals that live on our rural prop-erty, their diversity and theirneeds; and participating in plansto preserve as much of that life

as possible, despite the disrup-tions inherent in any construc-tion project.

Inside this issue of The Seed,you’ll find examples of what ourstudents have been learning, andhow our teachers and staff havecombined those outdoor explo-rations with core academics. (Inone lesson, studying the charac-teristics of our resident frogs andtoads led to a graphing of setsthat would do any budding math-ematician proud.)

More elusive are the nonacad-emic lessons this living campusinvites. We humans aren’t bornrespecting the world around us;respect grows out of our rela-tionships—out of caring for agarden, planting a tree, building a birdfeeder or a mouse’s home.The intimate connection withone’s environment is also whereculture begins; the more weunderstand it, the better weunderstand ourselves.

A Habitat Called MontessoriBy Cynthia Winans-Burns,

Head of School

Elementary students study maps of the campus expansion to see how

infrastructure being set in place relates to future structures.

Academic subjects are,after all, the tools of educa-tion, not education itself. Thechallenge for educators in the21st century is to help our students use those tools toacquire the real-world skillsthey will need tomorrow, andin the years to come. Onceyou arrive at that understand-ing, classrooms that open tothe outdoors, and studentswho are free to explore natureand their own curiosity, makeall the sense in the world.

Primary students learn about

storm-water management

during a tour of the campus’s

water-reclamation system.

Primary students visit the con-

struction site regularly, having

informal chats with workers and

learning about their jobs.

Long before the

contractors arrived

at our Upcountry

Maui campus, our

students were doing

their own “site

preparation.”

and close the windows and doors.”It’s a mind-set our energy/oil con-sumption age has gotten us into.

We see this Montessori of Mauiproject as a laboratory. The Hawai-ian attitude toward the outdoorsfreed us to explore sustainablebuilding-design ideas we can extendto our work outside of Hawai‘i.We’ve already begun to do so.

Screened windows, set high

in east- and west-facing

walls, provide natural cross-

ventilation. Shutters can be

positioned horizontally for

maximum light and air flow,

or angled to shelter the

room from rain and lowering

sun. Beneath roof overhangs,

rainspouts collect water for

irrigation, toilet flushing,

and other nonpotable uses.

An Open-and-shut Case for Natural Ventilation

Flansburgh Associates’ Valerie Curtis and David Soleau meet with

upper-elementary students in 2005 to present an initial design for

MOMI’s campus expansion, based on student and staff input.

Wherever possible,MOMI’s site

preparation has sparedexisting trees. When that hasn’t been possible,other conservationmeasures have come into play—as was thecase for a cluster ofnonnative silver oaksthat had to be removedfrom the upper campus.

“We salvaged 29 sil-ver-oak logs from thecampus, approximately4,000 board-feet,” saysFAI Associate ValerieCurtis. “All that woodwill be dried, cured andmilled, and used for win-dow and door trim inthe classrooms. It’ll alsobe used for students’cubbies, and as battensfor the acoustic materialcovering the ceilings. It’sgorgeous wood.”

Spring 2007

From the Guidelines . . .The way a building is designed influences thelearning that happens there; it teaches children—intentionally or otherwise—about themselves,their place in society and the larger world. Thinkback to your childhood. Was your school a wel-coming place that invited curiosity and discovery,or did the buildings resemble a factory in designand operation? What values and behaviors didyour school environment encourage?

Given Montessori School of Maui’s commitmentto a sustainable campus expansion, it was a logicalprogression to seek a built environment thatwould intimately connect the classroom and thechild with the natural world. That lesson beganwith concern for the way buildings are constructed,the materials they’re constructed from, and suchhidden costs as environmental damage and thefuel consumed in shipping. MOMI worked withProfessor Stephen Meder of the University ofHawai‘i School of Architecture and director of theCenter for Smart Building and Community Design,to establish comprehensive guidelines that wouldhelp architects, engineers, contractors and othersto achieve MOMI’s vision. Here are a few examples:

• Design buildings to be adaptable for various uses over their lifetime.

• Design buildings to minimize the amount of materials used in construction.

• Maximize the use of recycled and resource-efficient materials, such as certified forestry products, and locally grown and/or locally produced building products.

• Incorporate solar hot water and water-catchmentsystems into all buildings, and use captured andgray water for nonpotable purposes.

• Orient buildings to maximize natural ventilation and solar-energy generation.

• Integrate daylight with energy-efficient lighting.

• Use building and operational materials that are resource-efficient, do not off-gas, and have a lowembodied energy.

Text on these pages was excerpted in part from

the 96-page Montessori School of Maui Guidelines

of Sustainability and Curriculum.

To receive a print or CD copy of the Guidelines,

write us at Montessori School of Maui,

2933 Baldwin Avenue, Makawao, HI 96768.

Please indicate which format you prefer, and enclose

a check or money order for $8.00, made payable

to “MOMI,” for shipping and handling.

MICRO LEVEL: EMPATHY (AGES 3–6)

I wonder if animals think like we think? Do you think that a bird/caterpillar/spider tries to build a “dream nest”/“dream cocoon”/“dream web” each time it builds a home? What parts of their separate homes do youthink are most important to these animals?

QUESTIONS

3

4

1

1

Go on a “sensory scavenger hunt” tointroduce the living and nonlivingcomponents of a habitat (sun, soil,air, water, food, etc.).

Build miniature habitats for toads,ants, ladybugs, etc., and observe howthe animals seem to like thesehomes.

LESSONS

5

1 Our little ones search the campus for even lit-tler inhabitants: insects and birds, and the habitatsthey build.

2 Wearing a portable “mini-habitat,” Chaytonhelps Sean collect wigglers for a wormery.

3 Shhh! Students aren’t the only ones on campuswho need naptime.

4&5 A do-not-disturb sign safeguards a chrysalisyoungsters discovered while exploring the campus.Their reward? Seeing it emerge as a butterfly.

If you were an architect, where would youask the builders to construct the new campusbuildings? Why?

Do you think a lot of earth was brought toour campus in order to construct buildingshere ten years ago? Do you think a lot ofearth will need to be moved to our campusto build here in the future? Why or why not?

QUESTIONS ages 7–9 QUESTIONS ages 9–11LESSONS ages 7-9

1 Tyler and Cameron help construct wormeries whoseinhabitants will convert recycled paper into compost.

2 Cleopatra and Marissa study an empty bird nestfound on campus to determine why it fell from the tree,and what might have happened to its former residents.

3 From the study of animal habitats, it’s a natural leapto explore how other human cultures make use of theobjects in their environments. Here, upper-elementary

Build forts out of natural materials found on campus.

Raise toads from tadpoles to adults while providingthe right home, or habitat, for each stage in thetoads’ life cycle. Before releasing the adult toads,see if you can determine which habitat maturetoads prefer to build their shelter in. Place a par-tially submerged clay pot (filled with dried leaves)at several locations on campus. What site does atoad prefer most. Why?

Have you ever noticed ananimal shelter that waspoorly constructed? In whatway did the home look as ifthe animal hadn’t built itvery well?

1

1 Ashley and Alex prepare habitats any tadpolewould be proud to call home.

2 A tiny toad is a big reminder of how much life isall around us, if only we take the time to look.

3 Observation of nature leads to a lesson in appliedmath: a Venn Diagram of how frogs and toads differ,and how they are alike.

4 Having studied how animals use their environ-ment to create shelter, lower-elementary studentstry their hands at construction, using objects foundaround campus . . . and gaining respect for otherspecies’ abilities.

1

2

3

4

LESSONS ages 9–11

Research the different styles of homes peoplebuild around the world.

Introduce the concept of topography (includ-ing slope, contour lines, etc.). Do a topograph-ical study of the campus using handheld GPS(Global Positioning System) units and/or physi-cal steps and measuring tape.

MESO LEVEL: EXPLORATION (AGES 7–11)

concepts based on the principles of Maria Montessori—among them,that the goal of education is “thedevelopment of a complete humanbeing who is oriented to the environ-ment, and adapted to his or her time,

2

place and culture.”Here are examples of opportunities

for academic discovery, appropriatefor each stage of a child’s development,that a study of habitats can generate.

MOMI’s Guidelines of Sustainability andCurriculum is designed to provide pertinentinformation for any school communityinterested in creating a sustainable campus.Because we are a Montessori school, ourGuidelines also incorporates curriculum

students Jake, Marissa and Kylie construct a teepeeand devise a covering of fronds—buffalo hides notbeing available.

4 As part of their site analysis, students surveyedthe campus on foot, calculating slopes and topog-raphy and cataloging the trees. Later, using GPS, Eli,Ryder and Joaomarco are amazed at how closelytheir findings match.

Lessons from the Earth Participate in the process of obtaining

a special-use permit prior to buildingconstruction.

Research school buildings across theglobe. Do other cultures place moreor less emphasis on classroom qualitythan we do? What do other culturesdo when growing student populationsnecessitate new school sites?

Raise money to improve an elementof the school’s current or future build-ings (e.g., installing a window to allowincreased daylight, installing a photo-voltaic panel [solar cell], replacingincandescent bulbs with compact flu-orescent bulbs, etc.). Part of thisprocess includes taking ownership ofthe building’s quality, as well as dis-cussing what improves a building’squality or performance.

MACRO LEVEL: SOCIAL ACTION (AGES 12–15)

QUESTIONS LESSONS

1

2

1 Over the summer, Montessori dadshelped the students build a middle-schoolstore. Here, Makena and Maya add a coat ofpaint. What began as analysis of appropriateconstruction sites will evolve into lessons inmarket-based economies, as students estab-lish criteria for the merchandise they’llstock. Store sales will help fund the middleschool’s biannual trip to Washington, D.C.

2 At a parents’ meeting, Kai explains thedesign concepts behind the new middle-school classrooms. He knows, because heand the other students helped advise thearchitects.

3 Charlotte rehearses testimony she’llpresent before the County’s Land Use Com-mission at a Special Use Permit hearing.

I wonder if you have any ideas about themost appropriate location for a new buildingon a piece of land? What do you think isimportant to consider when selecting a build-ing site?

I wonder if we should set goals for how longour school buildings will be useful?

4

3

4

2

3

4 MOMI middle-schoolers Max Kapua-Chiong, Ryan Glavor, and Kai Lenny (not pic-tured) earned high honors at Hawai‘i’s ‘OleloYouth Xchange Video Awards, a statewidecompetition sponsored by ‘Olelo CommunityTelevision. Glavor, Kapua-Chiong and Lennywon first-place in the Environmental Issuesdivision for their video on potential environ-mental effects of proposed changes to Maui’sMa‘alaea Harbor.

“Ohhhhhh! Mr. Worm isunder the big rock! Wow!”

—Aiden, 2 years old

“I’d like to keep the bees in theirbeehive. I don’t mind if they live

right outside our new classroom.”—Elijah, 9 years old

2