On May 12, 2008 a catastrophic earthquake destroyed or severely damaged over 7400 schools and displaced millions of children in Sichuan and neighboring provinces in China.

Imagine sustainable buildings emerging from the rubble enabling students to return to schools that are safe and healthy, sunlit, energy efficient, and designed to anticipate lower cost renewable energy options in the future.

Our stretch vision is for a safer and sustainable rebuilding of Sichuan’s schools – enhancing seismic safety, improving energy efficiency, reducing green house gas emissions, using healthy building materials and protecting local ecosystems – at an affordable cost so that these features can become a “standard” for future construction.

The Center needs your support as we seek this vision for the children of Sichuan and the planet. Please join this effort by making a tax-deductible donation today!

The Center has public-private partnerships already in place with China’s national and provincial authorities responsible for reconstruction – including the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Education and the Sichuan Provincial Government. The design teams are in place in China and the US. The goals:

• Design and construct a school in Sichuan Province, using a “Sustainable Schools Protocol” developed by a Design Team working in partnership with the China US Center for Sustainable Development;

• Share information about the design and construction process, extend lessons learned, and create opportunities for collaboration;

• Refine the design protocol and architectural system based on the experience gained in designing and constructing a school and working with stakeholders in China;

• Extend training and technical assistance to local governments, school bureaus and designers/contractors in applying the design protocol and architectural system to other schools and public buildings in Sichuan Province and beyond.

In response to the devastating earthquake, the Center seeks to leverage expertise through our community of sustainability professionals to help rebuild Sichuan schools sustainably. The design team includes:

This is a tragic time but a precious opportunity to find pathways to influence the “green” rebuilding of Sichuan Province’s thousands of schools and public buildings. The social and environmental benefits of shifting from a “reconstruct-as-usual” response to a “reconstruct sustainably” response in Sichuan could have multiple ripple effects.

The sustainable features being considered for the design include passive heating and cooling, renewable energy systems, day lighting, shading and light reflecting devices, eco-effective insulation, green roofs, efficient appliances and fixtures, onsite storm water management, native landscaping and salvaged materials from old buildings.

Explore the green features of the school design in progress…

In August 2007, a workshop for the design of a rural village school was organized by Tongji University’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning in Shanghai and sponsored by the China-US Center for Sustainable Development with lead funding from the Heinz Family Philanthropies and BP China. Participants included architecture students and faculty from Tongji, Tsinghua University in Beijing, the University of Virginia and the University of Oregon. The purpose of the workshop was to support international collaboration to incorporate sustainable design strategies into a prototype rural school for northern China. The workshop successfully achieved its goal – developing conceptual designs for a multi-functional elementary school that is family friendly, climate and ecologically intelligent and cost effective. Then, drawing on the results of the workshop, a team of architects and planners from Tongji University’s College of Architecture and architects and engineers from the US prepared a more detailed schematic design for the rural school. Fundraising and construction of a rural school in northern China was about to begin when the catastrophic earthquake destroyed thousands of schools in Sichuan Province.

The focus has shifted to Sichuan Province given the unique opportunity to find pathways to demonstrate how to put into practice environmentally friendly site development and building standards. Greener standards in the rebuilding of Sichuan schools could dramatically reduce energy use, cut carbon emissions and pollution, and create buildings that are in harmony with the natural environment and safe for children.

The target is $2.5 million to achieve the initial goals of this plan.

Contributions may be in the form of cash, in-kind services and/or technologies and materials. Please join us today in supporting this hopeful school for the children of Sichuan Province and the planet. You may donate in the following ways:

• Send a check to “Rebuilding Sichuan Schools Sustainably – China US Center,” China US Center, One World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon, Suite 210, Portland, Oregon 97204.

• Wire transfer – please contact Mr. Joe Marcotte at the Secretariat for the account information: jmarcotte@isdf.org.

• Secure credit card payment through PayPal – with or without a PayPal account – by clicking the “Donate” link on this page

All contributions are tax deductible to the full extent of US law. The US Secretariat for the China US Center – The International Sustainable Development Foundation – is a 501 (c) (3) non profit organization dedicated to helping create a world where commerce, communities and nature can thrive in harmony.

For more information about this project and how to make a tax deductible donation, please contact