ENVS to break ground in June

The deadline for construction to begin on the College's new Environmental Studies Building has been postponed until June to allow the College to iron out details of the complex structure.

Faculty and architects involved in planning for the building said they anticipate the building will open in the fall of 1999.

"We had some issues with the city planning review; one primary problem has been resolving parking issues. We're in the process of negotiation now. I think we're close to a resolution," architect Kevin Burke said. Burke's Virginia-based firm, William McDonough and Partners, worked with the College to design the building.

"The original time table set for March became unrealistic, so June was decided upon as a more reasonable date to begin construction, " said Environmental Studies Professor David Orr. He added that finalizing the bidding portion of the budget is also necessary.

Burke said the College also needs to finalize plans on optimizing the level of energy the self-sufficient building will generate.

"On the construction side, it's a pretty complex building and to resolve a lot of systems and make sure we're doing what we set out to do with the original program is taking a lot of time. Both the College and the design team are committed to getting it right," said Burke.

He said he anticipates that construction of the building will total a year or 13 months. "We typically allow four weeks as a moving-in period, and we want to add a couple of weeks at least so we can air the building out," Burke said.

Although it may be taking longer than expected to get off the ground, the building may be well worth the wait.

The two-story, 1400 sq. ft. building will be located between Harkness and Elm Street. It will constitute classrooms, faculty offices, an auditorium, and a resource center, will be an incorporation of significant ecological and conservational design ideas. The non-decorative landscape of gardens and a greenhouse will be totally functional.

"It's not just a building alone; our overall project is the integration of the building with the landscape. We're looking at it as a model of ecological design principles," continued Burke.

He said the building is the only one of its kind in existence. "As far as we can tell, there never has been a building that features all of these ecological design principles together," he said.

The features he was talking about include all the latest in environmental technology.

One prominent feature of the building will be the waste water treatment system, or what Burke called "the Living Machine".

Invented by biologist John Todd, the Living Machine will be located in the building's greenhouse for the treatment of all waste water that is produced by the building. Using biological systems, it will turn waste water into gray water to be used in toilets.

The Living Machine recreates the way a marsh would purify water. "There will be no real waste water within the system," said Burke. "It's taken time to get local and state approvals; it's the kind of system that's not very familiar to people. It's a benign system but people are wary of it. The approval part has finally been worked out."

The building will also generate energy by solar means and insure that there is optimal indoor air quality and freshness. It will utilize natural ventilation as much as possible, incorporating operable windows throughout the building to help this process.

"This solar power system will eventually generate the building's entire electricity needs, controlling lighting, air conditioning, and other energy necessities," Orr said.

All this will be enhanced by Photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof, which help use sunlight to create energy. That energy can be produced on a sunny day and stored for use at night, or transported through the campus' electricity grid to be used as energy elsewhere on campus, according to Burke.

"They won't be put into the center immediately, but the roof's shape has been designed to eventually incorporate the PV panels, " Burke said.

There has also been discussion of adding a fuel cell, which will work in conjunction with the PV panels to create and store energy. According to Burke, this fuel cell or "reverse electrolysis" was developed by NASA as part of its space technology. The NASA-Lewis Center at the Cleveland Hopkins Airport has been consulting with the College about the incorporation of the fuel cell into the building.

"It will be sort of a testing site for this type of technology," said Burke.

Materials of the building, according to Orr, are "products of service." Once they are useless or inadequate they will be returned to the manufacturer to be recycled.

"This is part of the construction's design to adapt to changing technology, " Orr said. "The building is planning on being a zero discharge of biology edifice."

Burke said he is optimistic about the building's outcome. "Oberlin gave us the most ambitious program we've encountered for providing ecological design within a building. Going from concept to reality, our ultimate hope is that we can live up to these lofty ambitions," said Burke.