北卡罗来纳州琼斯县（Jones County）的新幼儿园至12年级的琼斯县（Jones County）已有13年以上的历史被证明是高度农村，服务不足的地区的多维天赐之物。这家庞大的现代学校设施以4,770万美元的总成本建造，但最终仅花费了琼斯县的耗资总计1,140万美元。
The mastermind behind that low cost is Robbie Ferris, the CEO and president of school designer SfL+a Architects—and owner of Firstfloor Energy Positive, the project’s owner and developer.
弗里斯（Ferris）花了数年的时间与琼斯县官员（Jones County）的官员进行了单学解决方案，最终使他的开发团队为一个不寻常的多阵容融资套餐造就了该县，从而降低了该县的总成本来建立学校。详尽的多年努力至关重要，因为琼斯县否则负担不起这样的现代设施。
With the states’ second-smallest tax base, a county increase in local taxes large enough to fund a replacement for its existing 1950s-era school facilities would have been so severe as to be “politically impractical,” says Franky Howard, county manager. “We couldn’t have put that burden on our citizens.”
Still, the need was great. Collectively, Jones County’s existing facilities had suffered through an estimated 60 combined years of deferred maintenance, and they had numerous mechanical and other shortcomings. The buildings “had roof leaks everywhere,” Ferris says.
幸运的是，霍华德说，弗里斯（Ferris）“一直在路上踢（这个想法），直到我们能找到一种方法为止。”
该解决方案值得等待。In addition to securing tax credits and zero-interest loans for the project, Ferris’ team, along with Howard and other county officials, persuaded state legislators—including then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown (R)—to take the unusual step of directing state grants to Jones County to fund construction.
In all, Ferris estimates, tax credits and grants totaled $36.3 million, resulting in a total borrowed amount of $11.4 million—and no tax increase for county residents.
通过构建public-private partnership and opened in August 2019, the resulting energy-positive school—estimated to produce 175% of its needed energy—also provides Jones County with a 40-year life-cycle cost of just $13.6 million, according to Firstfloor.
相比之下，该公司估计，一所非能阳性学校的传统交付将导致40年的成本接近1.014亿美元。
在2019年7月的一封信中，琼斯县当时为弗里斯（Ferris）工作的人迈克尔·布雷西（Michael Bracy）指出：“没有团队的创造力和活力，该项目将是不可能的。我们收到了一个4700万美元的项目，约为1300万美元。”
对于弗里斯（Ferris）也是建筑师，学校是“一栋非常特殊的建筑”。
He adds: “It really set a new benchmark for us both architecturally and from an engineering systems standpoint.”
新利18备用东南’s Best Projects judges agreed, honoring the Jones County K-12 with the Best K-12 Education Award, presented in late 2020.
