“Selecting the Best of Green Schools honorees is an exciting and challenging process, as there are so many fantastic examples of efforts being made in communities large and small,” said Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green Schools, in a statement. “Some of the honorees go about their work quietly, while others are in public positions and have the attention of a national audience. Every one of the honorees is a leader, taking risks, setting an example for others, innovating and diligently pursuing a world in which every student attends a green school within this generation.”

The Monarch School, a Houston-based LEED Gold school, was honored in the K-12 category. The institution provides therapeutic education to students with neurological differences, such as autism spectrum disorder, hyperactivity, mood disorders and traumatic brain injuries, and integrates a number of green initiatives into its tailored curriculum.

Since 1997, The Monarch School’s environmental education program has offered students with special needs an opportunity to learn about the environment. The school’s Living Building Challenge (LBC) Studio Classroom was the first project in the state built to meet LBC requirements, and remains one of only five on the globe. The studio serves as an outdoor living classroom where students’ day-to-day interactive decision-making helps the building achieve net-zero energy and water performance, according to the Center for Green Schools. The school’s environmental programming also includes initiatives related to solar energy, wind power and geothermal energy, and incorporates active water harvesting.

Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo was honored in the higher education category for its recycling, energy conservation and waste reduction efforts, and for facilitating cooperative research into green manufacturing practices. Click here to read more about Western Michigan University’s green programming.

The University of Buffalo and the State University of New York, both located in Buffalo, also received an award for their collaborative efforts to educate the local community about green practices. The two universities planned and facilitated three region-wide environmental congress events to create Our Shared Agenda for Action, a blueprint for action on regional environmental issues. These events also inspired the creation of an environmental alliance that now includes more than 100 environmental organizations working in the areas of energy and climate change, transportation, food, habitat, environmental justice, parks and recreation, urban regeneration, and waste and pollution.

A complete list of winners in all categories can be found on the USGBC Center for Green Schools website.
 

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Located at the center of the region’s emerging biosciences corridor, this new, transit-oriented medical school development will anchor a lively, urban mixed-use district on campus and bring 1,200 students, faculty and staff downtown.

With the goal of fostering collaboration and interdisciplinary care, the new academic medical center is intended to allow students, faculty, biomedical researchers and clinicians to move easily from classroom to bedside to lab.

“Building a new medical school is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our university and region, and a critical step in evolving the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus into an academic health center on par with those of Pittsburgh and Cleveland,” said Michael Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Kenneth Drucker, design principal for the project and design director for HOK Architects’ New York office, said his team approached the medical school project after analyzing the scale and texture of the city and the history, quality and craft of Buffalo architecture.

The university “has world-class aspirations for the architecture, design and planning of the medical school and site,” he said. “The project presents an exciting opportunity to transform the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and make a bold statement for architecture and urban design in Buffalo. We are pleased to have been selected for such a meaningful project, which will prepare students for medical and research careers in an inspiring research-focused academic medical center.”

HOK Architects beat out Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and Cannon Design, Rafael Vinoly Architects with Foit-Albert Associates, and Grimshaw and Davis Brody Bond.

The selection committee cited the company’s experience designing some of the world’s highest profile and most innovative health sciences facilities.

HOK Architects designed the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and recently won an international competition to design the Fondazione Ri.MED Biomedical Research and Biotechnology Center in Palermo, Sicily. The firm also served as lead designer for the University of Chicago’s William Eckhardt Research Center and the Francis Crick Institute’s cardiovascular and cancer research center in central London, which will be Europe’s largest center for biomedical research and innovation.

Other medical centers it has designed are in Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, Florida State University, the University of Alberta, Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., the University of Central Florida, the Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, Pa., as well as Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Los Angeles County and USC Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Bill Odell, HOK Architects’ director of science and technology, led many of those projects.

“The University at Buffalo has a tremendous opportunity to build state-of-the-art new facilities while redefining 21st-century medical education and translational research,” he said. “Most other academic medical centers in the world would love to have the opportunity that UB has on this site.”

The proposed $375 million medical school, funded in part by NYSUNY 2020 legislation, is a key component of the university’s 2020 plan for academic excellence, which is intended to benefit students, faculty, staff and the Western New York community.

“This new medical center will become a catalyst for further development in downtown Buffalo and Western New York, and support the convergence of technology and research that will transform the practice of medicine,” said Jim Berge, principal-in-charge for the project and HOK Architects’ director of science and technology in New York.

To meet the university’s sustainability and climate-impact reduction goals, HOK will design a sustainable building intended for LEED Gold certification. Groundbreaking for the medical school is scheduled for fall 2013 and construction is expected to be complete in 2016.

The post HOK Selected for $375 Million Project at University of Buffalo appeared first on School Construction News.

Located at the center of the region’s emerging biosciences corridor, this new, transit-oriented medical school development will anchor a lively, urban mixed-use district on campus and bring 1,200 students, faculty and staff downtown.

With the goal of fostering collaboration and interdisciplinary care, the new academic medical center is intended to allow students, faculty, biomedical researchers and clinicians to move easily from classroom to bedside to lab.

“Building a new medical school is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our university and region, and a critical step in evolving the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus into an academic health center on par with those of Pittsburgh and Cleveland,” said Michael Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Kenneth Drucker, design principal for the project and design director for HOK Architects’ New York office, said his team approached the medical school project after analyzing the scale and texture of the city and the history, quality and craft of Buffalo architecture.

The university “has world-class aspirations for the architecture, design and planning of the medical school and site,” he said. “The project presents an exciting opportunity to transform the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and make a bold statement for architecture and urban design in Buffalo. We are pleased to have been selected for such a meaningful project, which will prepare students for medical and research careers in an inspiring research-focused academic medical center.”

HOK Architects beat out Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and Cannon Design, Rafael Vinoly Architects with Foit-Albert Associates, and Grimshaw and Davis Brody Bond.

The selection committee cited the company’s experience designing some of the world’s highest profile and most innovative health sciences facilities.

HOK Architects designed the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and recently won an international competition to design the Fondazione Ri.MED Biomedical Research and Biotechnology Center in Palermo, Sicily. The firm also served as lead designer for the University of Chicago’s William Eckhardt Research Center and the Francis Crick Institute’s cardiovascular and cancer research center in central London, which will be Europe’s largest center for biomedical research and innovation.

Other medical centers it has designed are in Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, Florida State University, the University of Alberta, Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Fla., the Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, Pa., as well as Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Los Angeles County and USC Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Bill Odell, HOK Architects’ director of science and technology, led many of those projects.

“The University at Buffalo has a tremendous opportunity to build state-of-the-art new facilities while redefining 21st-century medical education and translational research,” he said. “Most other academic medical centers in the world would love to have the opportunity that UB has on this site.”

The proposed $375 million medical school, funded in part by NYSUNY 2020 legislation, is a key component of the university’s 2020 plan for academic excellence, which is intended to benefit students, faculty, staff and the Western New York community.

“This new medical center will become a catalyst for further development in downtown Buffalo and Western New York, and support the convergence of technology and research that will transform the practice of medicine,” said Jim Berge, principal-in-charge for the project and HOK Architects’ director of science and technology in New York.

To meet the university’s sustainability and climate-impact reduction goals, HOK will design a sustainable building intended for LEED Gold certification. Groundbreaking for the medical school is scheduled for fall 2013 and construction is expected to be complete in 2016.

The post HOK Selected for $375 Million Project at University of Buffalo appeared first on School Construction News.