Smith College's newest building, a 2,300-sf learning center at its nearby field station, has achieved top honors for environmental sustainability by meeting the rigorous performance requirements of the Living Building Challenge, a green building standard overseen by the International Living Future Institute.
The Living Building Challenge is considered the most comprehensive design- and performance-based building standard related to the environment. The Bechtel Environmental Classroom, as Smith College’s building is known, is only the fifth Certified Living Building in the world, and the first such building in New England.
Supported by the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and located at Smith's MacLeish Field Station in Whately, Mass., the Bechtel Classroom was completed in 2012.
The single-story wood-framed building was designed by Coldham & Hartman Architects, a firm based in Amherst, Mass., and built by the Deerfield, Mass.-based contractor Scapes Builders. The building comprises a seminar space, a multipurpose room, and an instructional lab. An outdoor gathering space offers visitors a view of the Holyoke Range.
“The Bechtel Environmental Classroom highlights Smith’s commitment to sustainability and the environment in a tangible and meaningful way,” says Drew Guswa, professor of engineering and the director of Smith’s Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability (CEEDS), which is a primary user of the classroom. He notes that CEEDS students had input into the design of the building.
To meet the Living Building Challenge, buildings must fulfill the requirements of seven different “Petals”—Equity, Beauty, Health, Site, Water, Energy and Materials—that encompass issues of sustainability, aesthetics and social justice.
“The Living Building Challenge is straightforward, but immensely difficult,” says Bruce Coldham, one of the building’s architects. Even before ground was broken, Coldham and the contractors were conscious of the requirements of the Living Building Challenge. In their design, they incorporated elements like composting toilets and solar panels that return to the grid 50 percent more energy than the building uses. They used local materials and sited the classroom in an area that required clearing mostly invasive species. Also, all materials used were certified free of carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting chemical agents.
Since the Bechtel Environmental Classroom’s opening in September 2012, students have monitored a range of data points around the building’s electricity and water usage to demonstrate that it operated over its first year of occupancy as a net-zero facility, meaning that it generates more energy than it uses and that it draws solely on a renewable water system.
The building is used by a variety of departments, including landscape studies and Jewish studies, as well as for writing retreats and concerts.
Future plans include poetry readings and dance performances.
Electrical – Martin Electric
For more on the building, visit: http://living-future.org/node/1136
Related Stories
Sponsored | Reconstruction & Renovation | Jan 25, 2022
Concrete buildings: Effective solutions for restorations and major repairs
Architectural concrete as we know it today was invented in the 19th century. It reached new heights in the U.S. after World War II when mid-century modernism was in vogue, following in the footsteps of a European aesthetic that expressed structure and permanent surfaces through this exposed material. Concrete was treated as a monolithic miracle, waterproof and structurally and visually versatile.
Urban Planning | Jan 25, 2022
Retooling innovation districts for medium-sized cities
This type of development isn’t just about innovation or lab space; and it’s not just universities or research institutions that are driving this change.
Sponsored | Resiliency | Jan 24, 2022
Norshield Products Fortify Critical NYC Infrastructure
New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.
Sponsored | Resiliency | Jan 24, 2022
Blast Hazard Mitigation: Building Openings for Greater Safety and Security
Coronavirus | Jan 20, 2022
Advances and challenges in improving indoor air quality in commercial buildings
Michael Dreidger, CEO of IAQ tech startup Airsset speaks with BD+C's John Caulfield about how building owners and property managers can improve their buildings' air quality.
Architects | Jan 17, 2022
OSPORTS adds Robert Hayes to lead operational and business development efforts
Hayes will guide the OSPORTS organization in its mission to offer a unique perspective to designing world-class facilities.
Architects | Jan 13, 2022
Hollywood is now the Stream Factory
Insatiable demand for original content, and its availability on a growing number of streaming platforms, have created shortages — and opportunities — for new sound stages.
Architects | Jan 13, 2022
Robert Eisenstat and Paul Mankins receive 2022 AIA Award for Excellence in Public Architecture
The award recognizes architects, public officials, or other individuals who design distinguished public facilities and advocate for design excellence.
3D Printing | Jan 12, 2022
Using 3D-printed molds to create unitized window forms
COOKFOX designer Pam Campbell and Gate Precast's Mo Wright discuss the use of 3D-printed molds from Oak Ridge National Lab to create unitized window panels for One South First, a residential-commercial high-rise in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Engineers | Jan 12, 2022
Private equity: An increasingly attractive alternative for AEC firm sellers
Private equity firms active in the AEC sector work quietly in the background to partner with management, hold for longer periods, and build a win-win for investors and the firm. At a minimum, AEC firms contemplating ownership transition should consider private equity as a viable option. Here is why.