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| Maharishi University's renewable energy system  Fairfield's 'green' mayor, Ed Malloy, fliped the switch on the solar electricity of the Utility Cottage to use only renewable energy to power all the equipment needed to complete construction of Maharishi University of Management's (MUM) new Sustainable Living Center. The Sustainable Living Center sets a new standard for green building in America by being completely off the grid with respect to electricity, heating and cooling, water, and waste, and will be the first of its kind on any campus anywhere in the world.On Earth Day, Whole Tree Posts and Beams were put in place, walls were tilted up, and roof trusses were placed on top of them. The entire shell of the building is now complete and is expected to be ready for occupancy in late fall. The Sustainable Living Center features four green building philosophies. It has been designed to meet the Living Building Challenge, the highest standard for sustainable design and green building in the world. It will be one of the first three to achieve this. And it will be unique because it will be the first to combine that standard with the standards of LEED Platinum certification, Building Biology, and Maharishi Vedic Architecture. Architects talk about 2030 as the year when all buildings will be built this way, sustainable and without a carbon footprint. But MUM is doing it now, with existing technologies and materials. "There's no other building like this going up in the nation, or in the world for that matter, that we know of, " said nationally known green building expert Mike Nicklas, FAIA, founder and president of Innovative Design, the building's Project Architects. To date, Innovative Design has designed over 4750 buildings and more than 100 schools that use renewable energy solutions. Mike Nicklas is the Technical Architect for this project, and Jon Lipman, AIA of Fortune-Creating Buildings, is the Design Architect. Mr. Lipman was responsible for the initial programming, design work, rendering, and also for Vedic architecture and design throughout the project. The Sustainable Living Center will serve students in the university's popular Sustainable Living degree program. It will have classrooms, workshop, meeting room, greenhouse, kitchenette, research lab, recycling center, and offices, as well as east and west covered verandas and a porch on the north. It has been designed as a building that teaches. In addition to embodying sustainability, it will allow students to monitor performance and energy efficiency and make adjustments. "The Sustainable Living Center will be a living, evolving building," said David Fisher, head of the MUM Sustainable Living Department, who helped plan the building. "The building itself is an educational tool, not just a passive one like most classroom buildings. It will provide participatory education where students will be continually adding to, or altering, the building and grounds as well as systematically checking its effectiveness." The Sustainable Living Center will be completely off of the energy and utility grid. Every feature will exemplify healthy and sustainable green building — and will be geared to teaching those principles. Construction uses all non-toxic materials from local sources, as defined by the Living Building Challenge requirements. All energy will be provided from solar panels on the building and from an outside wind turbine. Rainwater catchment will be the complete source of the building's water, with purification of drinking water via ultraviolet technology. Wastewater will be treated onsite using a constructed wetland. Natural day lighting will illuminate the entire interior. Geothermal technology will assist with heating and cooling. This achievement is remarkable because none of the systems in the building are new or experimental, according to developer and construction manager Dal Loiselle. "The Sustainable Living Center is being constructed using 'state-of-the-shelf technologies,'" he said. "This building proves that we can meet our environmental goals for our built environment with the materials, technologies, and green building protocols we already possess." write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Construction News :: home page |