SIS building architects promote green design

Media Credit: Laraine Weschler GOING GREEN - SIS instructor Simon Nicholson speaks at a panel discussion Thursday night to inform students of the new SIS building's designers' green plans. Nicholson, who is on the building committee for the new building, said it will be environmentally friendly and reflect SIS' goal to promote peace.

The key to responsible building is not lessening the negative impact, but making sure people and the environment benefit from the project, said Simon Nicholson, an instructor in the School of International Service who is on the building committee for the school's new building, during a panel discussion Thursday.

Panelists discussed how energy efficiency, water savings, selection of materials, sustainable development and social justice fit into green building designs.

"We need to do the right thing while fostering and creating joy," he said.

The new building, currently under construction in the area between the current SIS building and Bender Library, looks very much like other buildings on campus but is different in many ways. The new building will reflect SIS' goal to promote peace through the support of non-violence, he said.

In the United States, buildings use 35 percent of the nation's energy, 40 percent of the nation's materials and 25 percent of the nation's waste, said Nicholson.

"This is an environmental imperative," he said. "We've got to do things right on our campuses before we send people out in the world."

In traditional environmental design, the best way to save the environment is to limit use of resources. But people shouldn't have to give something up to be environmentally responsible, Nicholson said.

In the past, designers made products from "cradle to grave" and threw out the remnants. New movement designers make products from "cradle to cradle," optimizing the process to limit waste, according to Emily McDermott, the assistant project manager for McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry.

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