History

The Easton E3 Learning Lab was constructed by Ohio State University students in the College of Engineering and Knowlton School of Architecture. Designed in 2010 to be a green, solar tiny house, it was shipped to Washington DC to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. This collegiate competition inspires student teams to design and build highly efficient buildings powered by renewables, while optimizing for key considerations including affordability, resilience, and occupant health. 

The lab was then acquired by the district in 2012 after being used in the polar bear exhibit at the Columbus Zoo. It was refurbished through a grant that funded the building’s reconstruction into a science lab.

The district incorporated “Easton” into the lab’s name in recognition of the Easton Community Foundation grant made in 2013 that helped with getting the building up and running. In 2016 a Straight A Fund grant from the Ohio Department of Education contributed toward the final renovations and established the building at its current site.

The Easton E3 Learning Lab officially opened at the beginning of the 2018 school year and is a resource and learning facility for integrated, project-based inquiry learning focused on energy, the environment and engineering.