Eppstein Uhen Architects (EUA) of Milwaukee designed the new school on the site of its predecessor, incorporating a number of design methods to meet the district’s sustainability goals. As the first school to earn LEED Platinum certification under the new LEED v4 pilot program, Lake Mills Elementary School can now claim to be one of the greenest schools in the nation, according to a statement by EUA.

EUA joined the project in fall 2011 to assist with pre-referendum planning and design services to address the school’s aging structure and systems and to address overcrowding. To foster community engagement, EUA recommended working with a community-based committee to determine needs as part of a long-term facilities plan, according to a statement by the firm. Based on the feedback gathered, Lake Mills Area School District officials chose to replace the existing elementary school, and an $18.7 million referendum was passed in November 2012 to support the project. Miron Construction of Neenah, Wis., was the project’s builder.

The more than 93,000-square-foot, K-4 school earned LEED Platinum by incorporating a white membrane roof on the gymnasium for reduced solar heat gain and installing solar hot water panels to supplement the traditional water heating equipment. It also includes a photovoltaic array that produces more than 13,000 kWh of energy annually, while a closed-loop geothermal system provides for 100 percent of the school’s heating and cooling needs. Careful attention was also paid to the building envelope, which was designed and built to keep moisture out and to keep conditioned air in.

Outside, a green roof features vegetation trays for water absorption and visual interest as well as acts as a teaching and learning space. Touch screens located throughout the facility provide yet another way for students to interact and learn from the building, which is flooded with natural light thanks to large exterior windows and glass wall sections.

In addition to its latest sustainability honor, Lake Mills Elementary School also received a number of other commendations, including a Green Ribbon Schools Award from the U.S. Department of Education in 2015 and the Se2 (Sustainability Energy Efficiency) Award of Excellence from USGBC Wisconsin in 2015.

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Designed by THA Architecture of Portland, Ore., and constructed by Rudolph and Sletten, headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., the MESOM Laboratory joins the David Keeling Apartments as the second LEED Platinum building on the UC San Diego campus.

The 19,000-square-foot MESOM Laboratory supports the university’s multidisciplinary research of marine ecosystem forecasting with formal and informal collaboration spaces. The building consolidated the research from separate buildings to a single facility in order to foster interdisciplinary interactions.

“We had a real need for multidisciplinary labs, especially for assembly and construction labs,” said Cammie Ingram, director, capital programs and space management at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. “We had a lot of scientists doing build programs but didn’t have a lot of that type of space. Having assembly construction labs means we can go into the lab and load it right outside the door.”

The owner chose a site that allowed the facility to have twice as many assembly labs for a total of eight (four labs on two floors), Ingram said. She added that the site was an advantage but also made the project difficult because it was also constrained and relatively narrow. There was also the challenge of keeping the building’s profile as low as possible because La Jolla residents wanted to still be able to drive by and see the ocean requiring that the building minimize any blockage of the ocean.

“We were able to turn it into an advantage because we put all the mechanical equipment on the lowest level,” Ingram said. “It also basically became a design element because the exhaust stacks were placed on the back of building. They are clean and streamlined and look like rockets almost becoming a significant design element.”

Sustainable features of the building include natural ventilation and passive heating for all offices and workspaces; regionally sourced materials for the exposed concrete structure; exposed concrete structure to provide thermal mass; analyzed and reduced air flows in the laboratories; water-efficient landscaping focused on restoring native coastal plant species; use of FSC-certified wood at exterior siding and shade screens; and use of high solar reflectance index roofing materials.

“We have an excellent climate so we narrowed most of the need for intense energy use to the center core of the building,” Ingram said. “Two-thirds of the labs are able to have natural ventilation. Throughout the design process and construction process we did whatever we could to be as sustainable as possible.”

Ingram said that most of the funding for the $26 million project came from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. However, the school received funding from several sources, which is a major thing the team learned from this project.

“The bottom line for builders of an institution is to think about multi-funding sources,” she said. “Don’t think about getting it all from one source.”

The end product is a facility that is now one of a handful of LEED Platinum laboratories in the U.S.

“In less than a year, the MESOM laboratory has merited LEED Platinum status, a distinction that is extremely difficult for any facility to achieve and much more so for a working laboratory. This recognition underlines the high-quality design and planning — and commitment to the environment — that went into MESOM,” said Willie May, associate directory for Laboratory Programs, National Institute of Standards and Technology, in a statement. “NIST is very proud to have played a role in making this facility possible.”

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Constructed in 2010, the building was designed to achieve 44 percent more energy and 30 percent more water than code requirements. High-efficiency condensing boilers are used for heating the building, while a comprehensive set of solar panels, both photovoltaic as well as solar thermal sit atop the building’s roof, according to the college.

“Environmental sustainability was integrated into all aspects of the design and construction of Beck Academic Hall and that was very intentional,” said Gustavus Adolphus College President Jack Ohle in a statement. “Gustavus strives to be a leader among colleges and universities when it comes to sustainability practices and taking care of the Earth, so achieving LEED Platinum certification for Beck Hall was a priority.”

Sustainable features of the building include stormwater management, bicycle storage, reduced light pollution, water-efficient landscaping, use of recycled content in building materials, use of low VOC-emitting construction materials, greater use of occupant-controllable lighting and thermal comfort systems, and designated parking spaces for low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles. During construction, 75 percent of waste was recycled.

“Beck Hall’s LEED Platinum certification demonstrates tremendous green building leadership,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of the USGBC, in a statement. “The urgency of USGBC’s mission has challenged the industry to move faster and reach further than ever before, and Beck Hall serves as a prime example with just how much we can accomplish.”

Beck Hall was designed by BWBR Architects and constructed by Kraus-Anderson Construction Company. Both firms are headquartered in St. Paul, Minn.

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ZGF Architects, with offices in Portland, Ore., served as the project architect, while McCarthy Building Companies Inc., which holds local offices, built the facility located on a 3.3-acre site within the UCSD Health Sciences campus. The facility accommodates new and expanded multi-departmental programs, including bioinformatics, genomic medicine, gastrointestinal medicine, childhood diseases, pathology, immunology, inflammation, psychiatry, cardiology, neurosciences, infectious diseases and glycobiology.

The seven-story research facility features five floors of wet bench laboratories, open lab space, lab support space, seven stories of administrative office space, interaction spaces and conference rooms.

“With this new building, UCSD wanted the ability to attract the best and brightest researchers from the region and around the globe to join in the university’s mission to solve the world’s most critical health problems,” said Bob Betz, senior vice president of McCarthy. “In keeping with UCSD’s overriding goal of minimizing impact on the environment, another main goal was to design and build a laboratory facility that would achieve LEED Platinum certification and possibly lay claim to being the most sustainably designed academic laboratory facility in the world.”

The project’s strong focus on interdisciplinary collaboration is showcased in the open lobby, an interaction space adorned with gray-tone granite tile and California chestnut hardwood flooring. The lobby design also includes an iconic cast-in-place, concrete staircase that climbs seven stories up and one story down from the main space. The stairway is encased with frosted glass panels with LED-lit handrails and balconies enclosed with rift-sawn white oak wood panels and guardrails.

Designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification, the building includes several outdoor spaces as well as natural elements. The project includes two large, outdoor seating areas located on the second and fourth floors. These spaces feature slotted, metal overhead trellises and reclaimed teak wood ceilings and overlook the Health Sciences campus.

“Small conference areas are located on the top floor overlooking the lobby, some with oak wood privacy panels to create more intimate meeting areas,” Betz added. “Self-performed by McCarthy, the exposed architectural concrete shear walls, columns and stairways use Type III cement to lend to their aesthetic appeal.”

A computer-controlled exterior solar shading system on the east, west and south facades reduces visual glare, cooling load and energy use, while the radius ceiling shape helps redirect sunlight to provide optimum daylighting, according to the McCarthy team. Other sustainable features include daylighting, radiant heating systems, operable windows, individual thermostats, displacement ventilation, LED lighting, a water reclamation system, low-VOC materials, and high-efficiency mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. UCSD will study how capturing natural light in this unique manner lends itself to enhancing employee performance and workplace satisfaction, Betz said.

“The highly MEP-intensive floor was the most technically challenging aspect of this construction project,” Betz said. “Particular attention was given to the build-out of these mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems to ensure optimum energy efficiency. BIM was utilized extensively to help in the coordination of these spaces, along with Blue Beam for the electrical plan room. Additionally, McCarthy brought its subcontractors aboard during the initial design phases to help fashion a seamless, integrated building process.”

Another challenge on the project involved site logistics, as the building footprint was wedged between existing structures. To overcome this challenge, the McCarthy team paid close attention to ingress and egress routes and collaborated closely with the university’s officials to ensure maximum safety and minimum disruption to traffic flow in and around that portion of the campus.

Long lead times were also needed for certain materials, such as the terra cotta tile from Germany and the aluminum cladding systems from South Korea. These materials were ordered well in advance so as not to slow down construction progress at the site, Betz said.

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Visitors to this modern and well-designed school are first greeted by a small stand of solar trees. These bright blue structures are reminiscent of the surrounding greenery, and quickly inform guests that this school is different. The differences become even more apparent when guests get their first look at the building dashboard, an interactive, visual representation of the school’s various sustainability systems. This easy-to-use touch-screen monitor is full of icons representing everything from the school’s photovoltaic system to a thorough breakdown of its water use. Everyone from students to staff can access the information and get a better understanding of how the building uses energy.

Raleigh, N.C.-based SfL+a Architects designed the innovative school in two phases. The school district first approached the architecture firm roughly six years ago, in the midst of the recession, with plans to build a more traditional school structure. When funding sources weren’t available, the plans were shelved. However, SfL+a saw a unique solution and proposed a public-private partnership. This brought in private sector financing tools, allowing the school to benefit from energy rebates and tax credits as well as some income-based credits, said SfL+a Principal and Project Leader Barry Buckman, AIA. The firm’s sister company, FirstFloor, will lease the land from Hoke County while still maintaining ownership of the facility.

The PPP also allowed the school to shift the original design and become a model of green construction, explained Buckman. “It really became a creative solution for [the district],” said Buckman. “They understood the difficulty they were in, in terms of financing a school in a downturned economy. I think they were appreciative and excited about the idea of thinking outside the box.”

Sandy Grove Assistant Principle Shawn O’Connor also supported the PPP model. “There is an unwillingness to pour a lot of money into education these days, and this is a way we can still give kids a quality, cutting-edge education without assuming a lot of cost,” he said.

From there, the move from a more traditional school design to one worthy of LEED attention happened quickly. SfL+a Architects first streamlined the building envelope, trimming more than 15,000 square feet off the traditional design. “It was very important for us to reduce the overall size by making an efficient layout. A lot of that savings came out of circulation and flow area, not out of any teaching or program spaces,” added Buckman.

Thanks also to heavy-duty insulation, high r-value windows and electric car charging stations, Sandy Grove sets a high bar in terms of energy performance and efficiency. The SfL+a team integrated LED lighting throughout and installed a geothermal heating and cooling system.

Meanwhile, the roof is covered in more than 2,300 solar panels, allowing the 75,000-square-foot school to surpass net-zero standards, insuring it will never have a utility bill. Instead, the school will actually return power to the grid, as it creates 30 percent to 40 percent more power than it currently needs. In all, the school is slated to save the Hoke County School District roughly $35 million over the next four decades, $16 million of which will likely come from energy costs alone. “In terms of a project that generates its own energy, this is really cutting edge,” said Buckman.

Despite these many green features, SfL+a wasn’t quite satisfied. “An element we would have loved to have brought to this facility in a better way is daylighting. If we can daylight the interiors in a really integrated manner we don’t have to rely on artificial lighting to the degree that we are with this project,” said Buckman.” However, according to O’Connor, lighting conditions have proved ideal for the school’s art classes. “Our art teacher has utilized the natural light when students are learning about perspective and shadow. She’s been able to use the school itself as a learning example,” said O’Connor.
Sustainability efforts continued outside thanks to Crawford Engineering of Fayetteville, N.C. Though Crawford has worked on multiple education facilities, Sandy Grove was the firm’s first sustainably built project of this scale. Kevin Lindsay, PE of Crawford was largely responsible for the civil engineering and landscape design, and worked hard to minimize curbs, gutters, collection structures and impervious surfaces so common in most school landscaping projects. This in turn minimized the concentrate of run off, allowing for greater absorption.

The school was constructed by Pembroke, N.C.-based Metcon in less than one year. The end result is a compact, three-winged educational complex unlike anything the small, largely rural North Carolina community had seen before. “I think it shocked a lot of people,” said O’Connor. “It is a very unique looking school compared to the surrounding areas, but eventually as people gain more knowledge about how it works, this school will serve as a hub for the community.”

O’Connor added that the building itself has become a very valuable learning tool. “The kids see it as a living, breathing thing because we’re able to use this dashboard and get real time information about it. It’s not simply a lesson; it’s something they’re surrounded by and immersed in on a daily basis.”

The building, which also includes unique learning tools such as smart boards, an exploratory lab, media center and mobile computing capabilities, is also fitting for the school’s educational focus. “We infuse our curriculum with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math),” said O’Connor. “Even in language arts and social studies we see that science and technology component because every classroom is using our dashboard as a reference point. The teachers have really taken it upon themselves to run with this idea and apply it to their own disciplines.”

Sandy Grove recently completed its first full semester, and students and teachers alike have adapted well to the school’s various technologies. It also appears that all sustainability systems are working as planned. “At the moment, the school is exceeding its energy-efficiency goal,” said Buckman, “However, we average over a full year. We need to see all the conditions in every season, but we are ahead of what we had modeled for the building to perform.”

He adds that although the building is living up to its promises, SfL+a’s job is far from over. “We are constantly monitoring and tweaking so that we can conserve as much energy as possible. We will be doing that for the life of the building.”

That lifespan generally stands at 40 years for a typical school building. However, the firm added some built-in features to allow the school to expand and flexibly use the space into the future, allowing it to serve up to 650 students as opposed to the current 600.

Although the newness is beginning to wear off, students and staff maintain a great sense of pride in their environmentally friendly school. “The superintendent and the principal just can’t stop praising what this has meant to the students, staff and to the community,” said Buckman. “It’s very rewarding.”

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The $20 million facility is Southwestern’s first official on-campus residence and serves as an immediate focal point. The building’s clean, white exterior more closely resembles a modern beach house than a standard dormitory and features a mix of curved and angular lines. As The Residences at 7th is also described as a living and learning community, these themes were heavily integrated even before construction began.

Prior to the design process, Southwestern Law School held several focus groups with students, staff and faculty. The results of these gatherings reinforced Southwestern’s environmentally conscious approach, as many participants expressed a clear desire for energy-efficient appliances, natural building products and recycling programs. According to James C. Camp, assistant dean for property administration and development, the administration listened. "We worked hard to make this a healthy, sustainable and livable home for our students," Camp said.

After building on the Southwestern community’s suggestions and requests, The Residences at 7th was awarded LEED points for its wide use of local and recycled materials, careful waste management efforts, and management of onsite erosion. Further points were gained from an innovative system in which runoff from the facility’s roof, courtyard and permeable paving is directed to a water infiltration system. Careful landscaping and high efficiency irrigation systems also reduced irrigation needs by roughly 20 percent, improving the site’s overall score.

The inclusion of Energy Star appliances and highly rated windows help keep energy costs and usage down inside, as does an HVAC system proven to be 24 percent more efficient than the Title 24 minimum. High-efficiency fixtures have been installed to minimize water usage, and all residents have received training in the structure’s various sustainability systems.

Serving a variety of transportation preferences also helped secure the prestigious LEED Platinum rating. The pedestrian-friendly site features preferred parking for hybrid or electric cars, plug-in stations, secure bicycle storage and is only a short distance from bus and rail systems.

Janice Manis, chief operating officer at Southwestern believes the recognition is a fine reflection of the school itself. "Achieving this certification represents the essence of Southwestern as an institution – to make a positive daily difference for the law school and the broader Los Angeles community,” Manis said.

The Residences at 7th was developed by Corsini Stark Architects and Symphony Development, both based in Los Angeles. MATT Construction, also of Los Angeles, was responsible for all construction.

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At 230,000 square feet, the ECE Building will nearly double its original home and greatly expand the department’s physical capabilities. The terra cotta structure will provide office space for an estimated 120 faculty members, and comprise state of the art laboratories, classrooms and project spaces. Here, students will explore fields including optical physics, electromagnetism and thin film and charged particles, among others.

Designed to reduce the department’s environmental impact and reach its net-zero goal, the building will also utilize a variety of energy efficient systems and sustainable materials. The roof will eventually hold 1,200 solar panels estimated to provide roughly 300 kilowatts of energy. Meanwhile LED lights will be used across 70 percent of the building, reducing its energy consumption. An innovative chilled beam cooling system will also be used to throughout, while careful orientation, window shading, heat recovery systems and a high R-value envelope will ensure a comfortable and efficient interior year-round.

According to a statement by architects SmithGroup JJR, the building will also help streamline the department, consolidating it into one two-wing, multi-story building, and “creating a flexible environment to inspire and support interdisciplinary learning and collaboration.” According to Andy Vazzano, FAIA, LEED AP, leader of SmithGroup’s Corporate Science & Technology Practice, "This new building is where future innovations and sustainable research practices are imagined and refined."

Designers from SmithGroup JJR Chicago and consultants from KJWW Engineering Consultants of Rock Island are confident the ECE building will earn LEED Platinum certification, joining the school’s Business Instructional Facility. They also expect an EPA Energy Star rating of 99 on a 100-point scale, and that the building will serve as a prototype for future sustainably built additions to the university’s network of campuses, and help it work toward a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

ECE Department Head Andreas C. Cangellaris also spoke highly of the new facility in a statement. "This building will be a great benefit to our students,” said Cangellaris, “not only in the ECE Department, but in our college and beyond. This new building is designed to inspire engineering education driven by societal needs and opportunities. With these new facilities and labs, we will continue to educate the leaders in our profession for generations to come."


Construction of the ECE building is projected to cost the school roughly $71 million, while the entire cost is estimated at $95 million. The school will provide half of the total cost, while private donations and state funds will cover the remainder.

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The $34 million project includes the U.C. Davis Conference Center and the Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. Hall, home of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. The complex was designed and built to use 30 percent less energy than a typical office building, according to a university statement.

The complex joins the U.C. Davis Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science — the first brewery, winery and food-processing complex in the world to earn the Platinum designation — and the U.C. Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center in Incline Village, Nev., which received LEED Platinum certification in 2007.

A $10 million gift from alumnus and Las Vegas airline executive Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and his wife Marcia funded the Gallagher Hall project.

"We’re thrilled with the platinum rating for Gallagher Hall, which reflects the Graduate School of Management’s and UC Davis’ culture of environmental responsibility and our collective commitment to furthering the global adoption of sustainable green building and
development practices,” said Steven Currall, dean of the management school.

The certification makes Gallagher Hall the first LEED Platinum MBA school in the state and the third in the nation.

The Conference Center, which brings in nearly 500 conferences annually, hosted last year’s Governors’ Global Climate Summit 3, an event for leaders from around the world to develop sub-national collaboration on policies and strategies to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and stimulate green jobs.

The San Francisco office of Sasaki Associates Inc. designed the Graduate School of Management and Conference Center project, with Sundt Construction’s Sacramento, Calif., office as the general contractor.

In the fall of this year, the university also opened U.C. Davis West Village, a 130-acre zero net energy housing community. At build-out, the project will house 3,000 students, faculty and staff and be the largest zero net energy housing development in the country, according to the university.

Additional green measures at the university include its Smart Lighting Initiative, which aims to energy demand for lighting by 60 percent by 2015, and its Climate Action Plan, which enabled the campus to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to below year 2000 levels and targets year 1990 levels by 2020.

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