Biotic depletion, global climate change, dramatic population increase: words to a captive symposium audience delivered by Professor of Environmental Studies David Orr.

"The Edge of the Way: Revolution in Architectural Design," addressed the "radically different kind of world" that 1998 graduates will experience, as opposed to the environment in which most of us were raised. Our imperative--and theirs--Orr says, will be to reduce the impact of the human ecological footprint.

And that, he says, is the purpose of the Environmental Studies Center coming soon to campus. Conceived as a teaching facility, the building itself will serve as a state-of-the-art living laboratory of environmental design. "The idea for the project came out of the 1970s and was developed through thinking from members of both the college and town communities," said Orr, who has taught environmental studies at Oberlin since 1990.

"The question was how to create a building with zero impact on the environment. It's not enough to reduce or recycle waste--we must have a goal of no waste creation.

The Environmental Studies Center, as designed, will be a net energy exporter, with zero waste discharge." The $3.2 million facility, scheduled for groundbreaking this fall, will be powered by existing sunlight absorbed through photo voltaic roof materials designed by NASA. All sewage will be recycled on the site by the Living Machine, a system of indoor streams and planted holding tubs that mimics a natural wetland and incorporates the landscape around the building as well. The structure is designed to easily accommodate new technological advances.

But Orr feels the single most important aspect of the building will be its function as a center for learning, both for Oberlin students and others.

"What can the building teach?" he asked. "It can teach solar design, renewable energy, engineering design, waste recycling. It can teach us how to assess the human impact on the world and how not to incur further environmental debt on future generations. It can teach us that we are only temporary custodians and that whatever we do entails the future. The gift has to move."

KS