These days, sustainability is a popular buzzword for all kinds of developers, architects, landscape architects, and civil engineers, et al. in the built community. But where this design approach is most likely to gain ground is in the institutional sector, including colleges, universities, and assisted living campuses. These institutions tend to own their campus buildings for many years, and are therefore more likely to be interested in sustainable techniques that reduce operational costs and provide benefits in the long run. As institutions look to create sustainable campuses, the question becomes how to apply these environmentally friendly tactics without breaking the bank.

The use of recycled site materials is a simple and low-cost way to positively impact the environment. At the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, existing soil is stockpiled for reuse on site.

Author Joseph Geller and Robert Corning, partners of Boston-based Geller DeVellis, Inc. (www.gellerdevellis.com), continue this conversation in ED+C magazine’s digital edition available at www.EDCmag.com.

Look for their suggestions, including:

• Drainage “Do’s”
• Controlling Campus Climate
• Site Lighting
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Cutting Down on Car Use
• Practical Planting

As more and more industry professionals incorporate sustainable design on campuses and other developments, new low-cost techniques will continue to emerge and others will become even more cost-effective and easier to implement. This will no doubt lead to further interest and adaptation of sustainable campus development across the country.

a study of sustainable schools

More information on the following examples of green college and university projects are available through the online edition of ED+C magazine. Download the September issue today, or pass it along from www.EDCmag.com.

geothermal heat and graywater storage systems enable bowdoin college to add residence halls

Bowdoin College

Maine’s Bowdoin College faced two stumbling blocks when it started out to add two new residence halls on its campus in Brunswick to accommodate increased enrollment. The creative solutions that were engineered allowed the halls to go forward and resulted in a project that became LEED-certified.

The first obstacle came from outside the campus. The existing stormwater collection system adjacent to campus was near capacity, and the town mandated that the new project not contribute any runoff from the additional impermeable surfaces that would be created. The second challenge was on-campus: Bowdoin’s central steam system did not have the capacity in its existing distribution system to take on the new buildings.

Harriman Associates, Auburn, Maine, engineering consultant on the project, working with the architect, Kyu Sung Woo, Cambridge, Mass., designed unusual and intertwined solutions, including a rainwater collection system (a collection tank and pumps in the basement mechanical spaces collect all available rainwater and store it for use in flushing residence hall toilets), and a geothermal system that exchanges energy with the earth by means of seven 1,500-ft-deep standing-column wells, providing residence halls with heating and cooling, and supplying domestic hot water.

An energy consumption model of the system was developed prior to final design. It indicated that the payback period would be 10 years. After nearly a year of operation, the actual energy consumed is less than in the model, reducing the payback period to 6.5 years. Total energy consumption is 17.5 percent less, resulting in an almost 30 percent reduction in energy costs.

Both solutions earned the project LEED points, and Bowdoin College was awarded Silver LEED certification for the 208-bed Coffin Street Residence Halls.

Read the full story by Clif Greim, P.E., principal, and David Reinheimer, P.E., senior mechanical designer at Harriman Associates of Auburn, Maine, online at www.EDCmag.com.

the interdependence of design and resource conservation is clear at carnegie’s collaborative innovation center

Collaborative Innovation Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Collaborative Innovation Center at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh) has earned a LEED-CS Gold rating through the innovative design of dggp Architecture. This type of building has an energy usage profile similar to any office building. A major portion of its 136,000 square feet is in a cooling mode 365 days a year due to the heat generated from people, machines and lighting; the remaining perimeter of the building has a heating need in the cooler months.

Mitigating the negative impacts of the outdoors at the perimeter zone creates energy saving possibilities, as well as creating opportunities to improve the comfort for inhabitants. Reducing the interior zone’s energy requirement by even small amounts has a major impact on energy consumption. When the owner’s decision to use a cast-in-place concrete structural system was made, it became incumbent upon the design team to maximize the benefits of the material, along with integrating other systems into the building, in order to produce the best environmental performance possible.

Read more about this project at www.EDCmag.com.

evergreen college classroom facility earns leed gold and critical acclaim

Evergreen State College.

The forested setting of the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., is an appropriate place for a classroom facility that has been receiving widespread critical acclaim for its sustainable design. The Seminar II Building – actually, a series of five classroom clusters linked by a network of open walkways, stairs and bridges – was awarded a LEED Gold rating and a Top Ten Green Projects Award from the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Committee on the Environment. (COTE).

From the beginning, Mahlum Architects and the project team benefited from a shared appreciation of sustainable design. The college is known for its commitment to environmental advocacy and interdisciplinary teaching philosophy, a mind-set that imbued initial eco-charrettes seeking to establish sustainability goals, as well as follow-on meetings that involved staff, faculty and students.

Each of the classroom clusters reaches out into the forested landscape, where raccoon and deer were seen within months of completion in 2004. Great care was taken during design and construction to locate existing trees and configure the building footprint to minimize the number that would be cut. About 94 percent of the spaces within the complex have exterior views. Every cluster supports four interdisciplinary academic programs and includes faculty offices, student homerooms, seminar rooms, a workshop and lecture hall.

The 163,000-square-foot building is 73 percent naturally ventilated through operable windows, “trickle” vents and ventilation chimneys that release warmed air to the outside. All windows exposed to the sun are equipped with shading devices that allow occupants to see out while minimizing unwanted glare and heat gain. Approximately 40 percent of the roof is vegetated, and the rest coated with a highly-reflective roofing material.

Learn more about the energy efficiency of the project, as well as the local materials used, and find out how the occupants have responded by reading the rest of the story by Mark Cork, AIA, LEED AP, principal, Mahlum Architects, in ED+C’s digital edition, available at www.EDCmag.com.

science comes alive in ground-breaking human genome research center at university of toronto

University of Toronto’s Terrence Donnelly Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Research.

The University of Toronto’s Terrence Donnelly Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (TDCCBR)—completed in January 2006—is Canada’s foremost human genome research center fashioned to render science visible. Designed jointly by architectsAlliance of Toronto, Canada, and Behnisch Architekten of Stuttgart, Germany, TDCCBR hosts up to 400 specialists, researchers, and students who are uncovering the link between genetics and disease.

As a collaborative product of architectsAlliance and Behnisch Architekten—two firms that make environmental sustainability a principle in all their work—TDCCBR is a high-performance building that engages both passive and active sustainable design elements.

The slender tower is a prominent addition to the Toronto skyline and urban streetscape with a colorful, richly layered glass façade, which sits alongside some of the city’s most architecturally historic buildings.

The tower is located on a former right-of-way road, and is physically connected to an historic building via TDCCBR’s glass atrium winter garden. The five-story, ground level winter garden is joined by three double- and triple-height gardens on the upper levels. The year-round gardens encourage interaction among occupants; filter air; provide oxygen and moisture to the common areas; and are irrigated and drained as part of the building’s storm-water reclamation system.

A clever mechanical level and its rooftop sister space allow for flexible laboratory levels adaptable to changing needs. Even more unique techniques were employed to increase energy efficiency. Author Tiffany Monroy shares further details of the project at www.EDCmag.com.

environmental design project underway at walsh college

Walsh College.

As students return to Walsh College in Troy, Mich., this fall, plans to build a sustainable learning facility will be well underway. A $10 million, two-story, 36,000-square-foot expansion will be added to the existing east end of the campus building. The addition will include a library and media center, auditorium, and public spaces; classrooms and breakout rooms; and a walkway, which will connect the new addition to the existing building. The new facility is planned to open Fall 2007, and the existing building will go through a $5 million renovation after the expansion is completed.

The Chicago-based architectural firm Valerio DeWalt Train Associates is designing the sustainable addition with brick, glass and steel. The building will conserve energy and water by using a variety of sustainable materials, a system to capture rain water and solar harvesting methods for climate control.

According to Keith Pretty, Walsh College president, building sustainable makes good environmental and business sense.

“We saw some unique environmental opportunities in being primarily an evening school, and we want to be an example to the future business leaders we’re educating,” said Pretty.

A variety of unique conservation methods to save on energy, water, materials and related costs will be implemented in the new Walsh building addition. Candace Roulo will share the plans of this new LEED-registered project exclusively at www.EDCmag.com.

MEDICAL RESEARCH BUILDING IS LATEST MILESTONE IN DUKE UNIVERSITY’S QUEST FOR A SUSTAINABLE CAMPUS

Duke University Medical Science Research Building II.

At a university where environmental awareness is integrated in practically all aspects of campus life, it’s not surprising that the newest addition to the Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C., would be a green building. However, the Medical Science Research Building II (MSRB-II), designed by Hillier Architecture of Princeton N.J., isn’t your “average” green building, as the team reports in this overview of the project, available at www.EDCmag.com.

As a five-story, 160,000-square-foot laboratory facility, implementing sustainable building practices that conserve energy, minimize waste and utilize environmentally friendly building materials was a special challenge. Learn more in ED+C’s digital edition at www.EDCmag.com.

Visit www.EDCmag.com and download ED+C magazine's digital edition. The September issue will feature additional information and exclusive articles on green colleges and universities. Only available at www.EDCmag.com.