April: Dean André Roy's thoughts on food choices and sustainability.
Green features
The Environment 3 targeted LEED® Platinum building is an accessible, living laboratory for students, faculty, public/private sector partners, and the community, showcasing the latest in sustainable design, material, process and technology. Descriptive signage highlights novel features and how they work. These include:
- A welcoming atrium with feature staircase spanning all four floors serving as a popular reception area for up to 300 people.
- A two-story bio wall in the atrium connects to the HVAC system and acts as a ‘living air filter.’
- A 150-seat lecture hall on the main floor, equipped with low impact furnishings and videoconferencing capabilities, accommodates university-wide classes, and attracts high-level guest lectures.
- A bustling café provides a unique gathering place, offering fair-trade java and nutritious, locally grown alternatives to standard campus fare.
- A constructed wetland area treats wastewater by discharging it into a vertical flow system, allowing wetland plants to cleanse it. An adjacent cistern allows for rainwater collection.
- A new Design Studio with an abundance of natural light and views, provides an ideal work space – and second home for many Planning students and others.
- State-of-the-art metering systems, displayed on digital monitors in the atrium, will track ongoing energy and resource use in the building.
- A 5,000 sq. ft. green roof garden patio features native and experimental plantings accommodates up to 60 people.
- Two courtyards on the 4th floor provide light-filled, functional meeting spaces for 30-40 people.
- A solar power system will span a large section of the roof that will generate 60,000 KWh/year.
- Other sustainable measures include high efficiency lighting and plumbing fixtures, renewable materials, and low-emitting materials throughout the building.
- The creative landscape design for gardens and stone paths in and around the building incorporates student ideas gathered through a faculty-wide competition and provides natural gathering spaces and exciting research.
