Residence Hall Design Shift Leads to Gold Certification

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. — When the design phase of a new residence hall began at Mount Holyoke College, getting LEED points wasn’t on the agenda, but a change of heart after the $15.7 million project started yielded an LEED Gold certification for the nondenominational liberal arts college for women.

The 75,000-square-foot, 176-bed student residence hall was finished incorporating several green concepts that pushed it to the upper levels of the LEED certification spectrum.

“At first the college was using its own green guidelines, but then an incentive came along that encouraged us to reinvestigate our LEED point standing,” says Greg Bergmiller, project LEED specialist for project architect S/L/A/M Collaborative of Glastonbury, Conn. “We realized that we could focus on LEED Silver, but I was shooting for Gold in order to do that. Because everyone was diligent, we got the number of points we needed for Gold.”

Sustainable Elements

A solar-panel system provides 20 percent of the energy for hot water for the residence hall. Residents are able to monitor their energy use in real time through a computer screen in the lobby, which encourages competitions between floors or pods to see how low they can go. Efficient plumbing creates a 30 percent saving in water usage.

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Fifteen percent of the building materials came from recycled content, 90 percent of construction waste went to a local recycling company for salvage or reuse, and renewable materials and recycled content were utilized wherever possible.

Flooring is made from cork and bamboo, roof shingles contain 40 percent post-consumer material, and insulated glass contains 25 percent recycled material.

A building flush-out was conducted prior to occupancy to ensure that indoor air quality meets EPA environmental requirements and that the building was completely safe for students.

Sustainability was also planned as a teaching tool for students during construction. Signs detailing the green features incorporated into the project were hung on the fence so students could follow the progress.

Aesthetic Goals

Designers were also challenged with satisfying the aesthetic goals of the campus.

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Mount Holyoke is often considered one of the most beautiful college campuses on the East Coast, says Ray Weaver III of S/L/A/M Collaborative. The new residence hall needed to blend in with other Elizabethan-style and older English-style brick buildings.

“This was my toughest challenge: to provide a building that integrated with what the college holds in high accord but was still a 21st-century building,” Weaver says.

Key design members toured Amherst College, the University of Massachusetts and Middlebury College in Vermont for inspiration. Open forums with Mount Holyoke students were also organized to gauge their preferences.

Although the exterior blends well with the campus architecture, a walk inside reveals a plethora of updated technology.

The building features WiFi connectivity, and plasma screens display current events. Occupancy and daylight sensors adjust lighting in the public spaces to conserve electricity and reduce heat loads. A heat-recovery wheel also saves energy in the heating and cooling system.

“This building demonstrates that you can have modern features in a historical context, and it doesn’t have to look like a space ship,” Bergmiller says.