In 2018, the Bellevue School District reached out to Facet Architectural Design, a landscape architecture firm in Washington State, for their support in transforming an existing school campus into their new Spanish immersion school, Puesta del Sol Elementary. The campus, located in Bellevue, Washington, is home to extensive natural wetlands, where the design team played a crucial role in helping the district protect the wetlands as they rebuilt around them. Further, the design team worked to achieve the district's goal of integrating the wetlands and protected natural areas into the campus design. The restoration of these areas was an opportunity to instill stewardship values among students and foster outdoor learning experiences.

The project began with a team of ecologists and biologists who investigated the site looking for wetlands, streams, and wildlife habitat. They found a wetland on the site that drains into Kelsey Creek. Kelsey Creek is an important fish habitat for coho and chinook salmon, among other species. The project permit requirements included protecting both the wetland and well, a large area surrounding it as a buffer from any potential impacts. The result was the regulation of more than one-third of the campus as a protected critical area. The protected critical area has many development restrictions, and the team was challenged to provide the parking, circulation, and programmatic school facilities needed on this 9.9-acre site. Several design options were studied to successfully meet all project objectives. Despite the challenge, the critical areas on site also presented a great opportunity for the district to show environmental stewardship and educate students on the importance of stream and wetland ecosystems. The team embraced the wetlands and their buffers and used this project as an opportunity to enhance the landscape, integrate habitat features, and incorporate learning opportunities.

A collaborative design process was essential to develop the new campus while adhering to the City of Bellevue's critical area regulations and addressing community concerns. The first decision the team made was to locate new structures within the existing school footprint. This minimized any impacts to the critical areas. Next, outdoor play areas that were adjacent to the critical areas, were designed to have a compact footprint. Finally, the team decided to restore both the wetlands and buffer areas at the new school. A portion of the wetland was previously used as a baseball field. This grass area was decommissioned and re-planted with a wide variety of native plants. Nearly 68,000 plants were added, which led to native meadows and scrub-shrub wetland habitat patches. Trees that had to be removed due to the new construction were salvaged and re-used in the critical areas to create snags and add fallen logs as habitat features. Bat boxes and bird nesting boxes were installed on the snags. In total, 1.6 acres of land were restored to native planting. Puesta del Sol Elementary School contributes to maintaining healthy watershed conditions.

The new campus envelops the wetland and buffer, and one way the design team wanted to showcase the restoration area was by featuring pollinators and including interpretive signage. Native pollinator plants were specified in the wetland buffer restoration plan with the understanding that the school curriculum would relate to this area. For example, adjacent to the wetland meadow is an outdoor classroom with raised garden beds (designed by Fora Landscape Architects). The development of educational signage in collaboration with Sierra-Martin Architects demonstrates a commitment to engaging students and promoting environmental education. By highlighting the importance of local wetlands, native plant-pollinator relationships, and watershed health, these interpretive signs provide valuable learning opportunities for students of all ages. The translation of text into Spanish ensures accessibility for early learners, fostering inclusivity and cultural awareness.

Feedback from students included a 3rd grader, who said "I like learning the names for things in both Spanish and English." A 2nd grader also exclaimed, "It's fun to read the signs and see the plants in real life."
The signage project commenced with a high-level interpretive planning workshop, followed by iterative design reviews with the client. Angela Mele, the interpretive planner for Facet, led the content development, writing, and graphic design, incorporating colorful watercolor illustrations to enhance visual appeal. The landscape architecture team provided input on species selection and sign placement, ensuring alignment with the overall restoration planting plan.

 

Two types of signage was developed for this project, including native plant identification and custom markers that were created for two different ecosystems adjacent to the outdoor play areas: the wetland and the meadow. Ten different signs scattered throughtout the site were created with hand-drawn images of native wildflowers and grasses that were planted on the site. Meadow plants like yarrow (Acheillia mellefolium), western columbine (Aguilefia formosa), Douglas aster (Symphyotrichum subspicatum), and Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadinsis) are pictured in the signage. Wetland plants, including camas (Camassia), red-osier dogwood (Cornus senicea), and cluster (Rosa piscocarpa) roses are also shown in signage. The second type of signage was large panels that feature educational information. One panel focused on pollinators and how different pollinators pair with various plants, and another focused on the wetlands and how this ecosystem cleans the water and hosts unique plants and animals.

Services provided for this project included stream and wetland delineation, habitat assessment, site plan review in consultation with the project design team, mitigation planning including landscape design and restoration planting for on-site critical areas, environmental permit support, interpretive program design, bid support, construction monitoring and administration, and as-built documentation. Performance monitoring of the restoration planting areas has been required for five years and is currently in process. The school was constructed between 2021-2022.

Through careful planning and collaboration, the project successfully transformed the former Bellewood Elementary School site into a thriving educational environment that promotes environmental stewardship and fosters a deeper connection to nature among students. Danelle Edwards, the Puesta del Sol Director/Principal shared, "We love our wetland restoration/buffer and garden project areas. We moved into our building in January 2023. This spring, we are looking forward to using the areas with more students. Each classroom will begin a garden project that will give students hands-on experiential learning with optimal environments for plant growth, plant life cycles, and ecosystems.
Furthermore, students will be learning about habitats and environmental issues." This enthusiasm expressed underscores the success of the collaboration. While the project permit regulations may have required the protection and restoration of the wetland and buffer areas, it was the leadership of the district and the commitment of the design team that made these areas accessible to the students. The special plantings, habitat features, and signs provide students with valuable opportunities to engage with and learn from their natural surroundings. Students can observe and understand the natural environment around them in a dynamic and immersive way.

PROJECT TEAM:
Client - Bellevue School District
Restoration Landscape Architect, Environmental Consultant - Facet (formerly Facet)
Interpretive Planning and Design - Facet (formerly Facet) with Studio Understory
Landscape Architects - Fora Landscape Architects (formerly Weisman Design Group)
Signage Collaboration - Sierra Martin Architects
General Contractor - SpeeWest
Landscape Contractor - Total Grounds Management
Civil Engineer - LPD Engineering
Vendors and Products:
Bat box - Big Bat Box Triple Chamber Bat House, black, hand-carved western redcedar
Bird Nest Boxes - Flicker Next Box Seattle Audubon Nature Shop, Western Redcedar
Import Soil and Wood chip Mulch - Cedar Grove Compost
Native plants - Puget Sound Plants Nursery
Interpretive sign panels - Pannier Graphics
Sign Posts - Dunn Lumber
Critical Area Signs - Zumar Industries Inc.