The School of International Service building has achieved a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold rating, higher than the silver rating that was originally planned, according to AU officials.
The LEED certification looks at five categories: energy and environment, water efficiency, materials and resources, indoor air quality and whether the site is sustainable, with additional points available in innovation, such as green cleaning services and furniture.
Most of the green aspects function as part of the SIS building, according to Assistant University Architect Michael Purcell.
These include managing surface and storm water runoff, both of which are reused instead of flowing into the sewage system.
“Contractually, the building had to be designed to achieve at least LEED Silver,” Purcell said. “About a third of the way through, we realized that the decisions we made would allow it to be LEED Gold.”
The SIS building is the first green-certified building on campus, according to Director of Sustainability Chris O’Brien. He said SIS “sets the bar” for the University, as AU has pledged to build only LEED Silver or higher-certified buildings on campus in the future.
The building lost points because there is no stand-alone mechanical system in the buildings.
Instead, typical of most large organizations, the heating and cooling systems, for example, are shared across campus.
But Purcell said points were made up in the recycled water systems, the furniture used and the finishing used.
Purcell said he believes earning the highest rating, LEED Platinum, may not be worth the effort.
“Going from LEED Gold to LEED Platinum is very difficult,” Purcell said. “There are lots of technical aspects to getting those higher ratings.”
Although there are no immediate plans to achieve the platinum rating, the University is looking to remodel existing buildings to make them more environmentally friendly.
Purcell said the next building on the agenda is the McKinley Building, which will house the School of Communication.
The project is currently in the design and development phase.
AU is working to have 30 buildings on campus, or two-thirds of the square footage, certified by LEED, according to SIS Dean Louis Goodman.
The University’s goal is to restore the environment as well as reduce damage to it, according to O’Brien.
The environmentally-friendly aspects of the SIS building made the project 2.5 percent more expensive, according to Purcell. He would not release exact numbers.
But when the project began in 2002, the building would have cost 10 to 15 percent more because the green movement wasn’t yet popular and environmentally-friendly materials were more expensive, according to Purcell.
He said he believes staying within budgetary constraints without abandoning the environmental aspects presented the biggest challenge.
“It is important to demonstrate leadership in sustainability,” Purcell said. “It’s important for the health of the students and it’s important for attracting new students in the future.”
Goodman said he has further plans to increase the green aspects of the building, including building a sunken garden on the south side of the building, adding more solar panels and building a roof patio.
Goodman said he expects the building to have a lasting effect on AU and serve as an inspiration to those who work and study in it.
“When we conceived this building, we wanted a building that would inspire students to become stewards of the planet,” Goodman said. “We think the building has been designed to show that.”
kfroehlich@theeagleonline.com
