TWO MHC BUILDINGS WIN 'GREEN' CERTIFICATION
AS ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE DESIGNS

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – The Mount Holyoke College Science Center, a new facility that reflects the latest and best thinking in teaching and research, and Blanchard Campus Center, an expanded and renovated building that blends the historic with the contemporary, have both been recognized by the United States Green Building Council for their environmentally responsible designs.

Both Blanchard and the Science Center have been awarded certification under the USGBC's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, which was established in 1999 to accelerate the development and implementation of green building practices. The USGBC is the nation's foremost coalition of leaders from across the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places in which to live and work.

"The LEED program was a natural fit for the College, given our longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship and the aspirations we articulated in The Plan for Mount Holyoke 2010," said President Joanne V. Creighton, referring to the College's 7-year planning document. "We could not have earned this important recognition without the sustained focus and hard work of Facilities Management as well as many others around campus. I'm truly proud of what we accomplished, and I hope other institutions will follow our lead in incorporating environmentally sound practices for the common good."

The Science Center, completed in the fall of 2003 at a cost of $34.5 million, is one of the nation's first LEED-certified science centers. In fact, the Science Center and Blanchard, a turn-of-the--century building that reopened in September 2003 after an $18.7-million, 15-month reconstruction and renovation project, were two of the first projects registered for LEED certification; today, there are 126 certified building projects worldwide, with another 1,453 registered with the U.S. Green Building Council.

"We are on the cutting edge," said John Bryant, the College's director of facilities management. Bryant noted that the Science Center's certification is particularly impressive because it is difficult for a building of that size, physical complexity, and intensive energy requirements to meet the LEED specifications. "If you get LEED certification for a building like that, that's quite an accomplishment," he said. "Every effort was made to create a Science Center that has as little impact on the environment as possible. We at the College are committed to being good stewards of the environment."

Bryant congratulated Cutler Associates, the general contractor for the Science Center, and Shawmut Design and Construction, the general contractor for Blanchard, for rising to meet the many challenges both projects presented.

The LEED rating system allocates points in a range of categories including water and energy conservation, recycled building material content, and use of local materials. The system was developed primarily to standardize criteria for green building and land use and to encourage and showcase environmentally sound practices. As Bryant explained, "Five years ago, if you went to a 'green' conference, people could be talking about any number of things--water use, solar power, land use, recycling. There was only a general understanding that environmentally sound building practices were involved."

Proof of compliance with LEED standards is extremely rigorous. For example, Bryant noted that to earn points for environmentally responsible disposal of demolition materials, the construction supervisor "had to sort those materials by kind and document every Dumpsterful." Another LEED guideline required that a portion of the building materials be manufactured within a 50-mile radius of the site to minimize the environmental impact of truck exhaust fumes. Structural steel for the Science Center project contained 90 percent recycled content.

"The LEED Certification of the Science Center and the Blanchard Campus Center is a significant achievement for Mount Holyoke. The buildings demonstrate the opportunity for the facilities to serve as practical applications of the benefits of high-performance green building," said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO & founding chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council.

Architect Andy Domian of Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, an architecture and engineering firm based in Albany, N.Y., was instrumental in the Science Center project, the firm's first LEED certification. He commended the MHC staff for their great interest in and help in the project. "The College should be proud to have two certified buildings," he said. "It shows a real commitment to the ideals of sustainable design and improving not only the environment for the College's population as well as the world environment as a whole."

"Mount Holyoke College’s interest in pursuing LEED certification for the Blanchard Campus Center project set the tone for the design of the campus center and presented a design challenge that MDS was eager to embrace," said architect Will Spears of Miller Dyer Spears Inc. of Boston. "LEED certification for a building renovation and addition such as this was an unusual situation because, at the time the building was designed, the LEED certification process was still relatively new and untested for existing buildings." The added value that sustainable design measures incorporated in the design "will manifest itself in appreciation by the students and employees of Mount Holyoke College for the College’s responsible stewardship of its campus, and for a healthier environment," Spears said.

The Science Center, completed in the fall of 2003, was designed to foster greater interaction between departments, encouraging new opportunities for collaborative research, pedagogical innovation, and curricular planning. The new science facility offers adjacent labs and offices and shared equipment for students and faculty with overlapping research interests and common spaces for students and faculty. The center, which contains 116,000 square feet of newly constructed and renovated science and laboratory space, includes a new hub, Kendade Hall, that connects three existing science buildings. A $10 million donation in support of Kendade's construction, the largest single gift in the College's history, was made with the stipulation that Kendade be a green building. The Science Center brings together the departments of astronomy, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth and environment, mathematics and statistics, and physics, and MHC's programs in biochemistry and in neuroscience and behavior.

Blanchard, opened in 1900 as the College's gymnasium and converted to a student center a half-century later, was gutted and expanded. The building has a three-story atrium lit by a 60-foot skylight, a new, 6,000-square-foot north wing that houses the Campus Store, and a 9,000-square-foot Great Room, a combination dining and performance space with a curved glass wall looking out over scenic Lower Lake on a campus called one of America's most lovely.

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For more information about the USGBC and the LEED program, please see www.usgbc.org. For more information about the Mount Holyoke Science Center, please see http://www.mtholyoke.edu/cic/sciences/overview.shtml.