When the School District of Philadelphia and Microsoft Corporation planned a high-tech high school, they set ambitious goals for the building:

• It must foster a safe and productive learning environment.
• It must be aesthetically pleasing, technologically advanced, environmentally friendly and replicable on a traditional budget.
• It must satisfy LEED^® gold certification requirements.

Today, the just-finished high school is a living textbook for sustainable design. The environmentally friendly building promises energy savings, increased durability and less maintenance—proving that a school of the future can be economical today.

To give the school a green envelope, architects chose YKK AP^® aluminum fenestration systems. YKK AP curtain walls, window walls, and sunshades met all their criteria for safety, comfort, design sustainability and life cycle savings.