The hottest building standard on the block, Passive House, moves to the realm of student housing in a new residence hall at Unity College called TerraHaus. TerraHaus is expected to be the first student residence in the country with Passive House certification and will house 10 students.
We've seen green portable classrooms from Toby Long Design and Frog Zero classrooms from Project Frog, and this Gen7 School from American Modular Systems is an interesting option to add to the mix. The school is factory-built and delivered about 90% complete with an unbelievable 90-day turnaround. AMS indicates that the Gen7 classroom could save owners ~$100,000 per year in direct costs *and* will come with a ton of green features:
Sacred Heart Schools' new Michael J. Homer Science and Student Life Center in Atherton broke some records recently. It's the first school to obtain LEED Platinum certification under the LEED for Schools program and the first school in San Mateo County to use fruits and vegetables from an on-site organic garden for food service in the school cafeteria. It's also designed to use 69% less energy than a typical school and features some incredible green features.
The University of British Columbia’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) will be a candidate to be regarded as one of the greenest buildings in North America once it is completed. The building, which is presently under construction in Vancouver, is not only a superb example of sustainability in building design, but its purpose is to foster and accelerate sustainability and to bring together researchers, businesses, and nonprofits to work collaboratively on issues of sustainability.
Kroon Hall, the new home of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, has been awarded Platinum certification, according to the Office of Public Affairs of Yale University. Kroon Hall was designed to use 81% less water and 58% less energy than a comparable building, helping it receive a total of 59 LEED points. With the help of a massive and beautiful solar array, about 25% of this building's electricity should be generated on-site, too.
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