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
| Oct 26, 2014
Study asks: Do green schools improve student performance?
A study by DLR Group and Colorado State University attempts to quantify the student performance benefits of green schools.
Sponsored | | Oct 24, 2014
Infographic: 5 key considerations for securing modular workspace
Keep these five considerations in mind for your next project that may benefit from modular space. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Oct 24, 2014
Herzog & de Meuron reveals plans for redesign of Roche pharmaceutical campus in Germany
The project includes the addition of a 205-meter-high tower and research center, as well as the renovation of an historic office building designed by Swiss architect Otto R. Salvisber.
Sponsored | | Oct 23, 2014
From slots to public safety: Abandoned Detroit casino transformed into LEED-certified public safety headquarters
First constructed as an office for the Internal Revenue Service, the city's new public safety headquarters had more recently served as a temporary home for the MGM Casino. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Oct 23, 2014
Santiago Calatrava-designed church breaks ground in Lower Manhattan
Saturday marked the public "ground blessing" ceremony for the Saint Nicholas National Shrine, the Greek Orthodox Church destroyed on 9/11 by the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.
| Oct 23, 2014
Prehistory museum's slanted roof mimics archaeological excavation [slideshow]
Mimicking the unearthing of archaeological sites, Henning Larsen Architects' recently opened Moesgaard Museum in Denmark has a planted roof that slopes upward out of the landscape.
| Oct 23, 2014
China's 'weird' buildings: President Xi Jinping wants no more of them
During a literary symposium in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged architects, authors, actors, and other artists to produce work with "artistic and moral value."
| Oct 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index shows strong demand for institutional, mixed-practice design
AIA reported the September ABI score was 55.2, up from a mark of 53.0 in August. This score reflects an increase in design activity.
| Oct 22, 2014
Customization is the key in tomorrow's workplace
The importance of mobility, flexibility, and sustainability in the world of corporate design are already well-established. A newer trend that’s gaining deserved attention is customizability, and how it will look in the coming years, writes GS&P's Leith Oatman.
| Oct 21, 2014
Passive House concept gains momentum in apartment design
Passive House, an ultra-efficient building standard that originated in Germany, has been used for single-family homes since its inception in 1990. Only recently has the concept made its way into the U.S. commercial buildings market.