Site Plan

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Environmental Goals

The goal is to establish a sustainable campus that benefits the environment while meeting the needs of the community. The CFI will strive to meet a net-zero carbon emissions standard. Among the elements that will give the campus no carbon footprint are: photovoltaic panels for electricity, solar thermal collectors for hot water, a solar bio-shelter that enables year-round agriculture, passive solar building design for heat and natural lighting, natural ventilation, super R-rated insulation, and collection of rainwater. Utilizing the principles of permaculture landscaping and husbandry, the CFI will grow enough food–year round and onsite–to feed South Kent School, consuming no externally sourced water, and using no fertilizers or pesticides.

 

The CFI Site

Bordering scenic Hatch Pond on a 128-acre addition to the existing South Kent campus, the Center for Innovation (CFI) will consist of a core of academic buildings, organic gardens and orchards, greenhouses, permaculture landscaping and husbandry facilities, and managed wetlands for storm water treatment and irrigation. The complex will support the main South Kent program, but is also designed to be a regional resource for the local community, and other schools with an inter-disciplinary curriculum for science, the arts, sustainable practices, and ecology.
 

Phase I-Permaculture

Phase one of the project includes building interior roads, prepping the site for future building construction and restoring the original water course while installing a number of irrigation ponds. Additional work involves planting three of the fourteen proposed permaculture zones including nut groves, orchards and edible riparian areas. South Kent has partnered with Appleseed Permaculture, of Stone Ridge, NY, who helped develop the agricultural master plan for the site. Permiculture, one of the main program focus areas of the Center is defined by the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, “as the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people—providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.”
 
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