Environmental Design + Construction - September 2008 - (Page 34)

SNAPSHOTS FSU GREEN MATERIAL RESOURCES LOW-FLOW FAUCETS - CHICAGO FAUCETS DUAL-FLUSH TOILETS AND LOW-FLOW URINALS - ZURN INDUSTRIES LOW VOC PAINTS - PORTER PAINTS LOW-EMITTING CARPET - COLLINS & AIKMAN HIGH RECYCLED-CONTENT ACOUSTICAL CEILING SYSTEM – ARMSTRONG GARDEN ROOF - AMERICAN HYDROTECH, INC. REGIONAL BRICK - HANSON BRICK BROWN TO GREEN: VIRGINA TECH’S AMBLER JOHNSTON RESIDENCE HALL Virginia Tech, often known for being the home of football fanatics, is also home to some of the largest dormitories on the east coast. The first in line to get a major renovation is the Ambler Johnston Complex in Blacksburg, Va., which houses about 1,200 first-year students. With this renovation, the university is trying to redefine the on-campus culture, from a coal hungry institution to a more eco-responsible one. But the road from dormitory to residence hall is long and winding. Author Caitlin Lee explores how the current monumental style building, opened in 1969, and is a concrete monster and energy hog, will be transformed into a LEED Silver certified building. To actualize these goals, Virginia Tech Student Programs engaged engineering and architecture firm Clark and Nexsen. For Project Architect Tom Keeling, a Virginia Tech graduate of the School of Architecture in 1999, this renovation is especially significant. Keeling says that “the possibility of transformation within this out-of-date institutional building to one that will answer to student’s needs today, instead of the administration’s needs forty years ago” is what excites him and his team most about the project. The renovation will take place in two phases over three years so that half of the building will always be habitable for students. The renovation schedule of this building must coordinate with the finishing of two new buildings, which are also LEED Silver certified, that are going to house displaced students. To achieve the LEED Silver certification and to remain within the budget, the design team has chosen to salvage the existing building shell. The design team met the first challenge when trying to make the buildings more energy efficient. But the interior of the building is where most of the radical changes will take place. When the new Ambler Johnston Complex is complete, it will set the tone, not only for the upcoming renovations of other similar residence halls on campus, but also for the rest of the collegiate world. Keeling hopes that this project will “show what is possible with color, materials and light. How to open up people’s, especially administrators, minds to the possibilities of designing a building that can be both earth and student friendly.” The full story can be read at www.EDCmag.com. © 2008 Thomas Watkins Photography FSU’s new life science building is pursuing LEED certification. © 2008 Lefstead Photography. 34 WWW.EDCMAG.COM building and cage wash exteriors, the common areas — including a twostory lobby and 150-seat auditorium — and the walking plaza. Lord, Aeck & Sargent programmed and designed the building’s teaching and research laboratories, classrooms, support spaces, BSL-3 suite, laboratory animal resources, greenhouse complex and the underground cage wash facility. One of the architects’ biggest challenges was to find a way to fit the new Life Sciences building on the site, which was limited in size. Along with the site limitations were guidelines that required the building design to fit in with the Jacobean Revival architectural style of FSU’s campus. FSU officials decided when construction was well more than half completed that they wanted the building to be LEED certified. “Because many mainstream sustainable features had already been included in the building’s design, it was still possible to gain enough points to apply for LEED certification by making a few strategic modifications,” said Warren Williams, a Lord, Aeck & Sargent Science Studio principal who served as project manager. He noted that these included the addition of bike racks and preferred parking spaces for low-emitting vehicles; modification of the landscape design to include lower water demanding species; designation of open space adjacent to the project; the substitution of dual-flush flush valves and low-flow shower heads, which hadn’t yet been purchased; an increase in the commissioning agent’s scope; and implementation by the construction manager of an indoor air quality management plan and two-week flush out prior to building occupancy. More information is available on this project at www.EDCmag.com. GIVING A BOOST: DEPAUW UNIVERSITY’S INSTITUTE OF ETHICS While ethics is the subject of most of the work being done at the 22,800-square-foot Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University, this facility fosters more than its share of intellectual productivity. It’s one of those places Ted Fares describes simply as a comfortable place to be. Fares, director of facility management at DePauw University, says the Institute for Ethics is a model for sustainable building projects on the 695-acre campus (about 45 minutes west of Indianapolis) in Greencastle, Ind. Built by Shiel Sexton, it’s the first LEED-certified building on the campus of about 2,500 students, and it’s also the first new building in the state of Indiana to earn LEED Gold certification. The project, completed in 2007, was designed by Lake/Flato Architects and CSO Architects, Inc. From the start of the project, the team of university staff, facility planners, designers and contractors focused holistically on green design. They didn’t get hung up on what level certification the building should be, try to over commit, or force a design element that http://www.EDCmag.com http://www.EDCmag.com http://www.EDCmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Environmental Design + Construction - September 2008

Environmental Design + Construction - September 2008 Contents Web TOC Editor's Note Newsline New and Notable Announcing the 2008 Excellence in Design Awards Award Winner: Yale Sculpture Building Snapshots: College and Universities Teach Sustainability Color ISH North America Green Continuing Education Special Section: Concrete Product Focus Marketplace and Classifieds Advertiser's Index Underwater Adventures

Environmental Design + Construction - September 2008

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