Oberlin, Ohio--Five of the nation's leading environmental thinkers gathered on the Oberlin College campus recently for a symposium titled "The Ecology of the Second Industrial Revolution." The symposium was part of a two-day event that marked the dedication of the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies.

Panelists at the symposium included Ray Anderson, founder, chairman and CEO of Interface, Inc.; Janine Benyus, life sciences writer and the author of Biomimicry; Dr. Peter P. Bihuniak, vice-president of technology, BP Solar; Denis Hayes, international chair of Earth Day 2000; William McDonough, FAIA, founding principal of William McDonough + Partners; David Orr, professor and chair, environmental studies program, Oberlin College.

"I see this building as a tree in a barren land illustrating a new type of forest," remarked symposium panelist Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, a billion-dollar a year carpet manufacturer, that has embraced environmental principles. "I think the idea will spread."

The participants in the symposium viewed the building as a point of departure for a safer industrial future--the beginning of a second industrial revolution.

Following five years of design and construction, the September 15 dedication of the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies marked the completion of the first stage in the center's life. David Orr, professor and chair of the Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College, has been the visionary and catalyst behind the project.

Clayton Koppes, acting president of Oberlin College, emphasized that the project is a process that will develop over time, rather than a finished product. It is designed to be a laboratory that will showcase environmentally efficient building technologies, operating systems, and sustainable building techniques, adding that the final result will be a building that uses significantly less energy than typical campus buildings.

The building, while still in a fine-tuning state, has not met the energy performance projections of its original operating model. However, it is presently using substantially less energy than a typical new office building. The goal is to reduce energy use even further.

"While we can be proud of what's been accomplished," says Orr, "there is more to do. The solar electric system is now being installed and--based on the commissioning report--we are planning to make modifications that will improve energy performance."

The designers are also documenting the ways in which the building differs from the original plans, due to changes made during construction. Using this information, they will recalculate the building's optimal energy performance levels. This new energy model will be finished later this fall.

"We intended a building that improved, adapted, and changed over time--in effect, a building that learned," says Orr. "But this project is a means toward the larger end of improving how we think about the human role in nature, not an end. This is a beginning, not the conclusion."