Tag Archives: LEED

UMass Amherst Opens Doors to Green Buildings

Get the inside stories of the renovated Old Chapel, South College addition, Integrative Learning Center, and brand new Design Building! Ludmilla Pavlova, Senior Campus Planner, will lead a walking tour on Thursday, April 13th. The event is free and open to the public. RSVP here! For more information, visit https://websites.umass.edu/talkingtruth/.

Tour Schedule
4:00 – 4:10 PM – Meet in W.E.B. DuBois Library lobby

4:10 – 4:25 PM – Old Chapel
Old Chapel RenovationNew renovations to the iconic structure include a new entry pavilion, double height entry lobby with an elevator, multipurpose space, and the unveiling of the existing rose window on the north elevation viewed from the Great Hall for the first time since 1936.

4:25 – 4:40 PM – South College Academic Facility
South College Academic FacilityFrom 2015-2017, South College underwent a major renovation, restoration, and addition project. The existing structure was restored, and all major building systems were upgraded to meet code. A four-story, 60,000 S.F. addition was constructed on the west side of the building, housing common areas, faculty offices, and classrooms with state-of-the-art audiovisual systems. Together, The renovation and addition now serve as the primary home of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts, including the departments of English, Philosophy, Art History, and Women, Gender & Sexual Studies.

4:40 – 4:50 PM – Walk

4:50 – 5:05 PM – Integrative Learning Center
Integrative Learning CenterThe four-story structure located in the center of campus provides 2,000 seats of new classroom space as well as space for several academic departments including Communication, Journalism, Linguistics, and Film Studies. Classrooms were designed to be fully equipped with newly developing educational technologies in addition to a number of the other digitally enabled learning spaces.

5:05 – 5:15 PM – Walk

5:15 – 5:30 PM – Design Building
Design BuildingThe Design Building is located on the southern portion of parking Lot 62 north of the Studio Arts Building and houses the Architecture, Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning, and Building & Construction Technology academic programs. The building is intended to showcase integrated design through a stacked courtyard surrounded by studios, classrooms, workshops, and offices.

The UMass Amherst Libraries host a series of interactive climate change events. Now in its second year, the series is organized by Talking Truth: Finding Your Voice Around the Climate Crisis, a collaborative community comprised of UMass Amherst students, faculty, and staff working together to integrate the intellectual, emotional and spiritual dimensions of climate change. The theme of the spring 2017 series is “Living and Working with Purpose in a Time of Climate Disruption.

Website
Facebook
Blog
Sustainable UMass

New Green Campus Resources Now Available!

After many years of hard work, we are excited to announce the launch of several new Green Campus Resources, available now on the UMass Campus Planning website.


The LEED Buildings & Green Infrastructure page contains a list of all campus LEED buildings and sustainable infrastructure projects.
Click each project to explore an overview, sustainable features, LEED statistics, a green building brochure, videos, and articles.

 

Campus Sustainability Maps offer new ways to view project statistics and energy consumption through an interactive, GIS interface.

Click here to launch the Sustainability Explorer

The Sustainability Explorer provides information on campus sustainability initiatives. Projects fall under eight categories: advocacy, building, energy, food, landscape, recycling, transportation, and water. Zoom in and select an icon to view a description of each project and reveal additional information, including a project website, photos, and LEED scorecards. Zoom out to the campus boundary to view campus-wide projects.

The Building Energy Explorer calculates and compares the Energy Use Intensity (EUI) for UMass buildings and associates this data with a map to visualize and analyze energy consumption across the campus. The application includes navigation icons, printing customization tools, background information options, layers, and a legend in the upper-right hand corner.

The Frank A. Waugh Arboretum Map/Database and Campus Trees Database were developed by the arboretum to showcase the urban forest of the UMass campus and teach tree identification and appreciation.

 

Green Campus Policy Resources provide sustainability and energy conservation initiatives to campus staff, as well as designers and contractors working with the University.

·         Green Building Guidelines v2 and LEEDv4 provide a framework for approaching new construction and major renovation projects at UMass Amherst that are undergoing LEED v4 certification by focusing the conversation on those green building aspects that are most important to the campus. They are intended to be the beginning of a dynamic conversation between designers, environmental consultants and constructors, university stakeholders, and users of new high performance buildings.

·         Energy Modeling Guidelines were developed in 2015 as a resource on how to: i) generate energy models for campus buildings; ii) provide quality assurance review of current energy models; and iii) share UMass Amherst energy modeling input parameters with project design teams for them to establish a baseline building energy profile.

·         The Building Measurement, Verification, Coordination and Template Plan was begun in 2013 and finalized in 2015 as a resource to project teams that undertake the measurement and verification of building systems during the first year of occupancy of a new building and renovation project, particularly projects undergoing LEED certification.

·         Green Building Guidelines 2013 provide a framework for approaching new construction and major renovation projects at UMass Amherst that are undergoing LEED certification by focusing the conversation on green building aspects that are most important to the campus. They are intended to be the beginning of a dynamic conversation between designers, environmental consultants and constructors, university stakeholders, and users of new high performance buildings.

Please use these materials as a resource, and share them with friends, family, colleagues, and students. Go UMass!

Sustainable Building Efforts in the Spotlight

Setting the Bar High

The UMass Amherst Campus is rapidly adding to its collection of sustainable buildings. Since the university mandated that all buildings achieve a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver designation or higher (in 2008), we are now proud to showcase 4 LEED Gold certified buildings and 12 more that are currently seeking certification at the LEED Silver level or higher.

These efforts to uphold the University’s commitment to sustainable development are garnering recognition in the broader community. This year UMass Amherst was selected to receive the 2014 Climate Leadership Award by Second Nature, a national non-profit that works to create a healthy, just and sustainable society by transforming higher education.

Our chancellor, Kumble R. Subbaswamy accepted the award saying, “Sustainability plays an increasingly prominent role in the curriculum at UMass Amherst, and the true reward of a commitment to sustainability is the awareness it creates among UMass Amherst Students, and the numerous real-world solutions to climate challenges that they will develop in the years to come.”

In the context of this spirited commitment to sustainability, The Green Building Sub-Committee is spearheading the updates to the Green Building Guidelines, a reference for all campus projects, both renovation and new construction. These guidelines, which will be completed in the spring of 2015, follow the requirements of the most recent version of LEED, version 4. Each month, the committee meets to convene our ideas about how UMass Amherst fits into the parameters that LEED has created. Members share their convictions about what the focus of a discussion surrounding critical efforts in sustainable building should be here at UMass, for this campus and this institution. We are currently in the drafting phase, and would love to hear input from the broader community about what is important to you! What sustainable building practices do you envision being incorporated into a Green Building Guideline document on your campus?

LEED-Gold Certified UMass Police Station

 

LEED-Gold Certified CNS Research & Education Greenhouses

 

LEED-Gold Certified Hampshire Dining Hall