Green School, Bali

Andrew Armstrong, Director at Fulton Trotter Architects, has recently had the pleasure of venturing to Bali with 20 Griffith University Architecture students to absorb, be in awe of and experience the wonderful Green School. The K-12 international school has been acknowledged by the Green Building Council of America as the world’s greenest school. The school was started 6 years ago after its founder John Hardy was so inspired by Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth”. The pedagogy is based on the Steiner model with a strong emphasis on experiential learning and a focus on environmental sustainability. Presently the school has just over 300 students from 40 countries. Typically class sizes range from 20-25 students.

Sited in amongst tropical rainforest the school comprises a number of separate buildings constructed from bamboo with thatched roofs. Central skylights provide an abundance of natural light and having no external walls ensures the learning spaces are well ventilated. The steeply pitched roofs symbolise the heights that the students can achieve.

The buildings were initially designed and documented on the computer followed by hand made detailed scale models of the structure. Local tradesmen refer only to the model to construct the buildings.

For almost a week the tour group lived next to the school at Green Camp in thatched yurts that were similar to the design philosophy of the school. Andrew and the group toured the school, met with its architect and the builder, made bamboo beams and screens, designed a new interpretative and arrival centre and studied water ecology.

“Rarely have I been so taken back in seeing a group of buildings first hand. I smiled like a cheshire cat for just about our whole stay. A truly remarkable journey with many new lessons learned to take our healthy buildings strategy to a new level.”

If you wish to find out more about the Green School in Bali click here