SEVILLE, Spain – Aug. 19, 2020 – luis vidal + architects has announced that its newly designed, 312,000-square-foot Loyola University Campus in Seville, was awarded a LEED Platinum certification. Loyola University is the world’s first integrated campus to receive the highest environmental rating by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The multipurpose facility, designed to accommodate numerous aspects of learning and university life, also aims to be the first “5G Campus” in the world.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification is a widely used green building rating system and is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership – granted after verification of up to 110 categories.

“Our team at luis vidal + architects prides itself on its unique, user-based philosophy, developed after years of fostering innovation within the world’s most highly trafficked transportation, health, recreation and cultural centers,” said Luis Vidal, president and founding partner at luis vidal + architects. “To receive such high praise for the Loyola campus is a testament to our approach and architectural foresight, proven across 200 projects worldwide.”

The architecture firm initially carried out a detailed analysis of the site. Given the Mediterranean climate in Seville, where it often reaches high temperatures, special attention was paid to controlling sunlight.

“The project makes use of the lessons learned in T2 at Heathrow Airport in the U.K., and incorporates textile technology – the design of an external element, ‘the candle,’ which controls the light that penetrates the buildings,” added Vidal. “The campus also consists of a sequence of open and closed spaces, designed to provide self-shading.”

For the $29M million higher education project, all the classrooms, laboratories and common spaces (including a cafeteria and auditorium), totaling over 265,000 square feet, are in a single, optimized building. The sports building, library, lockers, access building and chapel complete the complex, totaling over 47,000 square feet of additional space.

The campus’ roof, facades and windows were designed to minimize sizable energy losses. luis vidal + architects worked to prevent excessive heat gain through the facades, given the region’s warm climate. The design team also installed photovoltaic panels to reduce the net-energy consumption of the building – which utilizes around 40% less heat than buildings meeting current regulations. The design also incorporates a water recovery system.

Materials for the project were carefully sourced and included recycled content, regional materials and those of renewable origin. More than 20% of the building materials come from previous uses, and more than 30% of the materials were locally extracted from the surrounding area, avoiding (or reducing) the environmental damages inherent in transporting materials. Renewable materials used for the build included bamboo and other natural resources.

The construction of the complex was wrapped in record time (17 months). Since Sept. 2, 2019, it has hosted a university community of more than 2,500 people.

“Sustainability is one of Loyola’s lines of action and research as a university,” said Gabriel Pérez Alcalá, president of Loyola University. “The facilities we occupy reflect exactly that, our desire to preserve living conditions and the creation of a space in which to train others in their respect and care.”

Vidal noted that the design was equally inspired by local architecture and regional culture, including the squares and patios of the historic communities of Andalusia.

Overall, to achieve LEED Platinum certification, buildings must attain a score of 80 or more on a 100-point scale that measures environmental impact. Indicators include the sustainability of the facilities, efficiency of water, energy consumption, use of materials and resources, interior environmental quality, compliance with location-driven sustainability priorities, and more.

luis vidal + architects is an architecture practice that offers experience across various disciplines and scales, including expertise in the design of global transportation hubs, health care facilities, office buildings and cultural/educational centers.

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NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.—The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) and Preschool in Newport Beach recently received the COTE® Top Ten Award, the industry’s most prestigious award for environmentally sensitive, high-performance design.

Architect design firm LPA received a national COTE Top Ten award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for the design of the ENC and Preschool on the five-acre campus. Consolidated Contracting was the general contractor on this project. The project cost of the Nature Center was $4.2 million, and $6.5 million for the Preschool.

The 9,000-square-foot center opened in 2008 as the first LEED Platinum building in the region. It provides environmental education through hands-on experiences with nature. Last September, a 10,380-square-foot preschool was added to deliver nature-based education for children ages 2½ to 5 years old through a series of intuitive indoor-outdoor play and education environments.

Children tend to an organic garden and harvest the produce as part of the curriculum.

“It introduces kids to responsible sustainability at a young age and is a place where people will want to send their children,” said one of the AIA jurors in a statement.

Energy efficiency and water conservation are in every element of the facility. The butterfly-shaped roof opens the classrooms to natural light and supports a 32KW array of photovoltaic panels, which are designed to provide 105 percent of the net energy for the preschool’s electrical needs.

Natural ventilation, low-energy ceiling fans and a radiant floor heating system eliminated the need for traditional HVAC systems. Rainwater is treated as an educational tool, where water is channeled through rock basins and bioswales, and naturally treated and clarified by plant materials.

“For LPA, COTE represents the highest honor because it focuses on actual performance,” said LPA President Dan Heinfeld. “We’ve always connected performance and design excellence as one of our core values.”

Added ENC Executive Director Bo Glover, “It was extremely important for the design to mirror our sensibilities on sustainability and energy efficiency. Working with LPA gave us a unique opportunity to design a nature-based preschool from the ground up.”

The preschool was developed through an integrated design process. A holistic approach was taken to addressing the educational spaces, as well as energy and water conservation. Learning spaces throughout the facility are designed to spark creativity, cooperative learning and imagination. A blend between indoor and outdoor learning environments provides children with an intuitive understanding of nature.

“We were able to work as a unit with educators, the community and ENC leaders to develop the idea of learning through nature in a facility that reflected the group’s core mission,” explained LPA Design Director Rick D’Amato.

In addition to being certified LEED Platinum in April, the preschool is also pursuing the Living Building Challenge’s Petal Certification, one of the first projects in the region to target both a high-level of sustainability and the healthy environment standard.

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SANTA ROSA, Calif.—Sonoma Academy’s Janet Durgin Guild and Commons was recently awarded LEED Platinum, the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest green building rating. The $17 million project—at the private co-ed college preparatory high school—has also been recognized for its low carbon footprint and material transparency.

Designed by architecture and planning firm, WRNS Studio, the two-story, 19,500-square-foot nature-inspired building houses the school’s student and education center — a hybrid maker space, student dining with an all-electric commercial kitchen, and indoor/outdoor learning facility.

This project showcases how architecture can make nature part of the classroom experience while meeting strict sustainability and energy efficiency objectives. Focused on health and regional considerations, the project is also targeting WELL Education Pilot and LBC Material and Energy Petals— certifications expected later this year.
“Rooted in a culture committed to sustainability, Sonoma Academy’s decision to embrace multiple rigorous benchmarks, demonstrates how they lead by example, working to understand and transform the wider market towards a more sustainable future,” explained WRNS Studio Partner and Sustainability Director Pauline Souza.

“We are excited to achieve this level of certification, and are grateful to our engineering and construction partners who helped us reach this target.”

Sited on a 34-acre campus at the base of Taylor Mountain in Santa Rosa, the Y-shaped, steel-glass-and-wood structure employed several creative design and engineering solutions to lessen its carbon footprint and establish a safe, healthy environment for students to learn.

Leading with biophilia, the building integrates active and passive systems allowing for a ZNE approach that decreases high-energy-component demand by 75+%. To reduce operational energy consumption, the building is 80% naturally lit, wrapped with operable windows and coiling doors for natural ventilation, and has high-performing, low-e glazing. Deep overhangs provide shade and shelter from the elements. Adjustable exterior sunshades and moveable screens tune for user-comfort and curb heat gain.

In more extreme months, heating and cooling is through geoexchange and radiant systems. These efficient methods drive down energy use and reduce water demand compared to traditional HVAC systems. Other energy saving strategies include a photovoltaic rooftop array, a living roof that helps insulate and keeps the PV’s undersides cool, naturally heat-regulating earth block, an all-electric kitchen with induction cooktops which reduces energy consumption while idling, and a waste water management system that accounts for 88% of the building’s total non-potable water demand.

To ensure a space that promotes well-being, a reductive, low-VOC material palette was the foundation for the project. With an emphasis on health and transparency, material selection was guided by LBC Materials Petal, and in compliance with ILFI’s Red List imperative and CDPH.

RHAA Landscape Architects was the landscape and garden architect on this impressive project. The contractor was XL Construction.

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MERCED, Calif.—The new $60 million Arts and Computational Sciences building at UC Merced—spanning 90,000 square feet—was completed last August following a four-year design and construction schedule using the Public Private Partnership delivery model.

The scale of this P3 delivery model sponsors a holistic, systems-thinking approach to campus development rooted in efficiency, innovation, flexibility and sustainability. The P3 development team included a consortium of financial experts, contractors, operations and maintenance teams, architects, engineers, and consultants, with WRNS Studio serving as academic architect. Webcor was the general contractor.

The UC Merced 2020 Project was planned to support the college’s Triple Net Zero Commitment (zero net energy, zero landfill waste, and zero net greenhouse gas emissions),” said Kristen DiStefano, associate director, San Francisco Studio, Atelier Ten, the environmental design consultant firm on this project.

 This commitment was integral to the design approach, putting a fine point on the ways in which a complicated, large-scale P3 can enhance campus life. This project has a goal of offering students an engaging, inclusive campus experience that supports evolving learning modalities with a variety of flexible, mixed-use spaces that blend student life with education.

The entire development is comprised of several buildings, which represents 1.2 million new square feet of construction.

“Live/Learn” became a guiding theme in the planning and design of the Arts and Computational Sciences Building, which includes computational labs, administrative workspaces, dance studios, painting workshops, screening rooms, informal indoor/outdoor spaces, music and sound recording rooms, and a large 299-seat auditorium and lecture hall serving campus-wide events.

 “An integrated design approach connects this varied program, incorporates sustainability goals, and blends living with learning,” explained Lillian Asperin, partner, WRNS Studio.

Added Bryan Shiles, partner, WRNS Studio, “Colloquy spaces distributed throughout the building act as a social glue, encouraging students to gather, socialize, relax and study in a series of informal, comfortable lounges.”

The building also links a new academic quad with future housing and extends a primary circulation path through the existing and new parts of the campus. Angled cast-in-place concrete columns run along the south side of the building, offering students an outdoor, sheltered gathering space and comfortable transition from the quad to the interior. More active programs, including art studios and the lecture hall, are located on the ground floor encouraging interaction between students, faculty and staff.

The auditorium was crafted by local tradespeople using regional wood species. Modular, offsite fabrication helped achieve technical accuracy, as well as cost and schedule efficiencies. Views of both the immediate campus and the open landscape connect students with Merced’s distinct agrarian valleys. Daylight and views reach into all spaces, including the computational labs, achieved through internal glazing and thoughtful space planning. All spaces are flexible for multiple uses—now and into the future.

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GRAYSLAKE,Ill. ­— The College of Lake County (CLC) recently announced that its Science & Engineering Building has achieved LEED Platinum, the highest level of certification achievable with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system.

The 42,000-square-foot Science & Engineering Building, which opened in January 2018 at the college’s Grayslake Campus, houses mechatronics, photonics and chemistry classrooms and laboratories. Among its sustainable features are photovoltaic solar panels, green roofs of planted vegetation, a geothermal heating and cooling system and energy efficient fume hoods in chemistry labs, according to David Husemoller, CLC sustainability manager. Other features include LED lighting, and daylight harvesting, in which generous window space in each room gathers natural light, reducing the need for electrical lighting.

“We are honored to earn LEED Platinum certification,” said CLC President Lori Suddick. “As CLC’s first LEED Platinum building, the Science & Engineering Building embodies the college’s commitment to and integration of environmental, economic and social sustainability in its operations and academic programs. The building serves as a living laboratory, inspiring students to learn sustainability practices they can use in their future career fields.”

The Science & Engineering Building is designed to reduce building energy use by 66 percent compared to a standard science building of similar size, Husemoller said. The building’s rainwater recovery system collects rain in an underground tank and uses it for flushing of toilets and urinals, reducing potable water use by 41 percent.

Financing for the $24.9 million building came from the Illinois Capitol Development Board and local funds. “This honor of LEED Platinum is the result of years of planning and dedication with college partners Legat Architects, the Illinois Capital Development Board and others,” said Husemoller.

Before construction, Affiliated Engineers Inc. (AEI) did an energy model that assessed energy conservation measures and their impact on annual energy use and cost. One result of that study is the south façade with its large windows that provide the appropriate amount of daylight into the labs.

The entire building and most of its interior were analyzed to optimize daylighting, reduce glare, and improve thermal performance. The most interesting and not so obvious element is the self-shading façade concept developed by Legat as early as 2008. The shading solution uses extended mullion caps to control light, heat, and glare at virtually no additional cost, and helps fill the academic spaces with an abundance of natural light.

The team recognized that, in order to attain LEED Platinum for a lab building, an east/west orientation was a must to respond to the sun’s seasonal changes in elevation. When the sun is higher in summer, the exterior shades above the windows act like visors and prevent sunlight from hitting windows to reduce solar heat gain. In winter, labs get solar heat gain because the lower sun shines beneath the shades.

Legat’s Jeffrey Sronkoski, principal and director of higher education, said, “From the very onset of the project, the college’s leaders were intent on making the Science and Engineering Building a model of sustainability. Not only did they accomplish their objective, but they also showed that achieving LEED Platinum for science buildings is no longer the holy grail it once was.”

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CARLISLE, Pa. — Dickinson College recently earned LEED Platinum certification for their $19 million High Street Residence Hall completed last year.

The 40,000-square-foot building was designed by New York-based Deborah Berke Partner (DBP) to enhance the residential experience for students as well as to qualify for LEED certification. 

The building opened in August 2018 to house 129 students in single- and double-occupancy rooms. Features include ample community space with a great room, living room, kitchen, outdoor patio, indoor bicycle storage room and common spaces for lounging and study.

The building is the college’s first new residence hall in more than 40 years.

On a site that faces the main thoroughfare of Carlisle, DBP designed this new residence hall at Dickinson College to present a formal front to the street and a more casual face to a lawn (and future quadrangle) to the south.

The design of the residence hall includes stone facades on the public side which provides a modern interpretation of the stone of the historic Dickinson campus across the street.

On the lawn side, DBP designed an active and light-filled “campus-connected” facade of large windows and weathered-zinc panels. Whereas the front of the building is at home among Dickinson’s historic buildings, the back activates its environs and fills the building with light.

The building’s E-shaped plan creates a pair of intimate outdoor courtyards for casual gatherings.

The high-performance landscape, designed by Andropogon, manages stormwater on-site.

Inside, sky lit staircases encourage active movement though the building. Hallways double as social spaces with lounge areas and study nooks. Energy-efficient exterior walls and roof, high-efficiency windows and a connection to Dickinson’s central energy plant work to help reduce carbon emissions.

Additionally, an upgraded stormwater-management system, including four rain gardens, minimizes impact to the existing community systems. The project’s landscaping includes 92 new trees and more than 16,000 other plants.

The opening of the hall was the final phase of a historic six-year campus enhancement effort that includes a new athletic training center, soccer field and interdisciplinary greenhouse as well as an expansion of the Kline Fitness Center and Rector Science Complex.

Lancaster County-based Benchmark Construction also led the work on the building.

Reports from Deborah Berke Partners and Dickinson College contributed to this story.

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BERKELEY, Calif. — Connie & Chou Hall, a state-of-the-art learning laboratory for Berkeley Haas Business School students, is officially the country’s greenest academic building, having earned TRUE Zero Waste certification at the highest possible level — along with a LEED Platinum certification for its energy efficient design and operation.

The student-focused space was designed to enhance learning, foster community and allow the school to provide a world-class education to current and future students.

Designed with LEED and WELL standards, the project features environmentally conscious construction, 40 percent reduction in water use, and 38 percent improved energy efficiency. It includes eight tiered classrooms, four flat classrooms, 27 group study rooms, a cafe, and a large event space on the sixth floor.

The Haas School’s  Zero Wave Initiative is a shared effort between a multidisciplinary team of both graduate and undergraduate students, Cal Zero Waste, Haas faculty and staff, facilities management, and building vendors to ensure that building operations are designed to succeed in waste diversion.

The facility earned the TRUE Platinum Zero Waste certification after more than a year of committing to waste sorting, composting and other efforts to divert over 90 percent of Chou’s landfill waste.

The U.S. Green Building Council conducted an on-site audit of the six-story, 80,000-square-foot laboratory — allocating earned points in water efficiency, energy use, construction materials used, indoor environmental quality, and design innovation. Haas is also pursuing a third designation, WELL certification, given to buildings that promote user health and well-being.

The hall earned 85 points, granting the facility LEED Platinum certification for its architectural design, construction and functioning of the building.

The hall earned credits through everything from composting food scraps to tracking the purchase of environmentally preferred products, to providing employees with access to zero-waste training to reducing the use of hazardous waste chemicals.

The zero-waste certification process began as soon as Connie & Kevin Chou Hall opened to students in August 2017, with a goal to move toward zero waste by 2020.

In August 2018, Haas participated in its third week-long TRUE Zero Waste audit, which is a strenuous, hands-on effort that requires separating compostable items from recyclable items.

The team applied auditing data to make more zero-waste adjustments and recommendations, including working with Café Think and the Evening & Weekend MBA program to change student snack offerings to bulk items; implementing a program to donate Café Think’s coffee grounds to UC Berkeley’s Gill Tract Farm for garden compost, and replacing the bathrooms’ one-roll toilet paper dispensers with two-roll dispensers to conserve toilet paper, according to Berkeley Haas newsroom.

Doud-Martin, the staff lead of the Haas Zero Waste Initiative and associate director of the International Business Development (IBD) Program at Haas, said the next phase will be to support a shift from recycling and composting toward reusing or reducing single-use items.

Doud-Martin believes that ultimately, the shift will align them with more a true zero-waste model.  

Perkins+Will designed this facility as the lead architect and Vance Brown Builders as the general contractors.

Reports from the Berkeley Newsroom contributed to this story.

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BOULDER, Colo. — Three athletic buildings at the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU) were certified LEED Platinum in fall 2017 — the highest possible LEED rating. With this latest certification by the USGBC, CU now has 25 buildings certified LEED Gold or better, either for new construction or major renovations.

The three new LEED Platinum certifications applied to the Champions Center, the net-zero-energy Indoor Practice Facility (IPF) as well as the extensive renovations done to the Dal Ward Athletic Center. All three of the athletic buildings were included in a CU athletic department facilities upgrade project that arrived at completion in 2016. The three buildings were certified in December 2017, which raised CU’s number of LEED Platinum certified building to 10.

Completion of the new Champions Center brought a new home for CU athletics administration, the CU football program, Olympic sports, the CU Sports Medicine and Performance Center as well as the Champions Club. The IPF is a climate-controlled facility and includes a full football field as well as a six-lane, 300-meter track. Upgrades to the Dal Ward Athletic Center feature new locker rooms and a new weight room for CU Olympic sports, a new room for the Herbst Academic Center and the Touchdown Club room. The Champions Center as well as the Dal Ward construction also included the addition of a pair of premium seating areas at Folsom Field.

“Achieving LEED Platinum for a project of this magnitude is a testament to the work and collaboration of several campus departments and partners,” said David Kang, vice chancellor for infrastructure and safety at CU in a recent statement. “Athletics has been a key driver of campus efforts to be a leader in sustainability, and this project is a shining example of that.”

The three-buildings project was led by Denver-based Mortenson Construction and Populous — a Denver-based architecture firm — as a joint design-build venture. Noresco, an energy services company based in Boulder, Colo., provided sustainability consulting services on the project. Construction on the project began in 2014, with different aspects of the project opening in 2015 and 2016 before its final completion at the end of 2016.

The most noteworthy sustainability feature of the athletic facilities upgrade project is the 850-kilowatt solar array that sits atop the IPF, with an estimated annual production of more than 1 million kilowatt hours. The entirety of the energy use of the IPF is offset by the solar array, which includes 28 percent of  the Athletics facilities’  usage.

Other sustainability aspects of the athletics project that helped to earn the highest LEED rating for the buildings include ample daylighting in the Champions Center and IPF, reduced water use through sustainable fixture selection, mechanical and lighting systems controls that enable optimization of energy, heating and cooling systems, and a new stormwater detention pond at the corner of Folsom Street and Stadium Drive that provides natural filtration of stormwater from the site.

“These state-of-the-art facilities have proven transformational to the success of our Athletic Department,” said Rick George, athletic director at CU, in a recent statement. “We’re proud that sustainability was at the forefront in the way they were built and how we use them every day.”

In addition to the recent and past LEED certifications CU has earned over the years, Folsom Field was the nation’s first zero-waste collegiate stadium, and the Ralphie’s Green Stampede program was the nation’s first NCAA Division I sports sustainability program. In addition, all events held at Folsom Field and the Coors Events Center are zero-waste events.

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SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) received its third LEED Platinum certification for existing buildings — operations and maintenance — for Bren Hall in 2017. This latest certification makes Bren Hall the first building in the country to achieve LEED Platinum three times over.

While this third certification is a clear delineation of the “greenness” of the building, Bren Hall was already recognized as the nation’s “greenest laboratory building” just after its initial construction was completed in 2002 due to its energy-efficient design, and was the first laboratory building in the country to receive LEED Platinum certification for new buildings.

In addition, Bren Hall managed to break another record in 2009 when it earned its second LEED Platinum certification for existing buildings. Bren Hall earned the most recent third certification for operations and maintenance with 93 points.

The list of what makes Bren Hall so green is lengthy. Some of the many features that stand out include natural ventilation — Bren Hall was sited to take advantage of ocean breezes. Offices have operable windows and transoms, so no air-conditioning is required. Heaters in the offices automatically shut off when windows are opened. In addition, Bren Hall is connected to a multi-building chilled water loop on campus to provide cost-effective cooling to the laboratory wing. The Bren chiller is able to take on a portion of the total campus load. The shared system saves as much as 85 percent runtime on the chiller.

Bren Hall also has low-impact restrooms with low-flow fixtures throughout the building. Toilets on the first floor use reclaimed water, and automatic flush valves are used on all toilets. Automatic valves are used on all bathroom sinks. Each of the 10 waterless urinals saves approximately 40,000 gallons of water per year, according to UCSB’s list of sustainable features on the website. White cap roofing is used to reduce “heat island” effect, and large windows are used throughout the building to reduce the need for electricity for lighting. The lighting plan incorporates energy-efficient fixtures and bulbs with daylighting controls for motion, heat and ambient light.

The list of sustainable features of the three-times-Platinum laboratory goes on, and so does the list of awards and honors that the building has earned. In addition to the three LEED Platinum certifications, Bren Hall earned the Flex Your Power Energy Efficiency Award in February 2004 and the International Interior Design Association Environmental Award in May 2003. Bren Hall was the featured site for the Parade of Green Buildings in April 2003 and won the Goleta Valley Beautiful Award in November 2002.

Amongst the organizations that awarded honors to UCSB in 2017 — in addition to the USGBC’s latest Platinum certification — are the Princeton Review, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and the National Recycling Coalition.

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