<p>An opening ceremony for
what could be one of North America's greenest buildings was held May 29 at Washington University
in St. Louis' new Living Learning Center at the university's Tyson
Research Center.</p>
<p>Tyson, located 20 miles southwest of the Danforth Campus, is 2,000
acres of woods, prairie, ponds and savannas where dozens of WUSTL
faculty and students predominantly do environmental research.</p>
<p>The Living Learning Center is a 2,900-square-foot facility built to meet the <a href="http://ilbi.org/" target="_blank"><span class="red" title="Go to Living Building Challenge">Living Building Challenge</span></a> &mdash; designed to be the most stringent green building rating system in the
world &mdash; of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council (CRGBC). No
building has met its standard yet, but the Living Learning Center is in
the running to be the first in North America.</p>
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<td align="right"><a href="http://news-info.wustl.edu/asset/page/normal/8316.html"><img align="right" border="0" height="225" hspace="0" id="cistern" src="http://news-info.wustl.edu/pub/libs/images/usr/8316.jpg" vspace="0" width="300" /></a></td>
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<td align="right" class="photoCredit"><span class="photocredit">Photo courtesy Dan Hellmuth, Hellmuth and Bicknese Architects</span></td>
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<td class="photoCaption"><span class="photocaption">Rainwater that
falls on the building will pass through a filter before it is stored in
this 3,000-gallon cistern. The cistern is pictured alongside the Living
Learning Center before being placed underground.</span></td>
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<td align="right" class="photoDownload"><a class="photodownload" href="http://news-info.wustl.edu/asset/page/normal/8316.html"> </a></td>
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<p>The center is designed to be a zero net energy and zero wastewater
building &mdash; both among the 16 requirements to earn "living building"
recognition from the CRGBC. The CRGBC is a chapter of both the U.S.
Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Canada Green Building Council
(CaGBC).</p>
<p>The Living Learning Center will capture rainwater and purify it for
drinking and will be powered so efficiently by solar energy that the
building often will pump energy back into the electric grid to be
purchased by the local energy company.</p>
<p>Other requirements include diverting a high percentage of
construction waste (80 percent or more, depending on the material) from
landfills and obtaining materials from within a certain mile radius of
the construction site to reduce carbon emissions from travel and
shipping. Occupational spaces also must contain operable windows to
provide access to fresh air and daylight.</p>
<p>"Since Living Building Challenge was launched in November 2006, more
than 60 project teams throughout North America have opted to pursue
certification," said Eden Brukman, the CRGBC's research director. "The
Tyson Living Learning Center is one of the first two of these projects
completing construction in May, and there are many people throughout
the country &mdash; and the continent &mdash; watching with eager anticipation.</p>
<p>"Living Building Challenge is a rigorous performance-based standard.
All 16 stated characteristics must be integrated into a successful
project, such as net-zero energy and water, habitat exchange, nontoxic
materials and beauty and inspiration," Brukman said. "In order to be
certified as a Living Building, it must be fully operational for at
least 12 consecutive months; this program demands proof that the
occupants engage the project as anticipated. After all, an empty
building serves no purpose."</p>
<p>Brukman noted that the Living Building Challenge is not meant to
compete with the USGBC's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) Green Building Rating System&trade;, which is a nationally accepted
benchmark for the design, construction and operation of
high-performance green buildings.</p>
<p>"The Living Building Challenge is instead viewed as an additional
outlet to promote the goals set by the USGBC and CaGBC &mdash; it establishes
a vision for a project's environmental and social responsibilities from
a new vantage point," Brukman said. "In fact, both national
organizations have endorsed Living Building Challenge."</p>
<p><strong>Ongoing teaching tool</strong></p>
<p>Many of the Living Learning Center's features contribute to the
building's net-zero water and energy use, said Jonathan M. Chase,
Ph.D., director of the Tyson Research Center and associate professor of
biology in Arts &amp; Sciences. The rainwater that will fall on the
building will pass through a filter before it will be stored in a
3,000-gallon underground cistern.</p>
<p>The pavement surrounding the building is porous and will absorb
almost all storm runoff. Waterless composting toilets will eliminate a
major use of water and enable the collecting of waste that will be used
as fertilizer for the surrounding grass. A 17-kilowatt photovoltaic
system will power the facility.</p>
<p>The exposed exterior and interior wood used to build the center,
including the cedar siding, came from Tyson grounds &mdash; either from
fallen trees or from trees slated for removal. The structural wood came
primarily from Pocahontas, Ark., approximately 200 miles away &mdash; well
within a 500-mile requirement to reduce carbon emissions associated
with the transportation of materials.</p>
<p>The structure, which was designed by Hellmuth &amp; Bicknese
Architects with Bingman Construction Co. of Pacific, Mo., serving as
the general contractor, also will feature a "bat house" built into the
building's eave, complete with two "bat cams" for observation of the
creatures.</p>
<p>The Living Learning Center will be available to members of the WUSTL
community, as well as other local institutions, and house a
seminar/classroom for several WUSTL classes, including a seminar for
undergraduate and graduate students and local environmental researchers
this summer and three environmental courses this fall.</p>
<p>It also will serve as the base of operations for a summer
high-school outreach program that is co-sponsored by the Missouri
Botanical Garden's Shaw Nature Reserve and funded by the National
Science Foundation (NSF).</p>
<p>According to the architect, the building's most important feature is
its ability to be used as an ongoing teaching tool &mdash; another one of the
16 requirements to be named a "living building."</p>
<p>"The curriculum for the summer program is already being developed
using some of the building features, which can all be analyzed as a
biological process," said Dan Hellmuth, a principal and co-founder of
Hellmuth &amp; Bicknese Architects.</p>
<p>"The PV (photovoltaic) output is monitored in the lobby via a
touchscreen monitor and over the network, showing how much power the
building is producing and how much CO2 is being avoided," Hellmuth
said. "This monitoring system can be built on over time to look at
water consumption, energy use, etc."</p>
<p>According to Hellmuth, there were many challenges associated with
constructing a "living building," including obtaining permits for
rainwater potable water and composting toilet systems and finding
certified framing wood within a 500-mile radius of Tyson, which is
located off I-44 at the Beaumont-Antire Road exit.</p>
<p>"I don't think any of us knew the challenges this would bring,
including Washington University, our design team, the contractors or
the folks at Tyson," Hellmuth said, "but throughout the process we have
continually met them in a seemingly endless gauntlet."</p>
<p>Participating in the opening ceremony will be Chancellor Mark S.
Wrighton; Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., provost, executive vice chancellor
and the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor in Arts &amp;
Sciences; Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor for
administration; Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., the Spencer T. Olin Professor
and interim dean of Arts &amp; Sciences; Chase; and Kathryn G. Miller,
Ph.D., professor and interim chair of biology.</p>
<p>"The opening of the new Living Learning Center is an exciting event
for Washington University," Quatrano said. "It demonstrates not only
the university's emphasis on sustainability but also its commitment to
teaching, research and community outreach. We have been building
faculty strength in ecology and environmental science, and this
structure will help in our educational mission and commitment to
student research and instruction."</p>
<p>"Tyson is in the midst of a major revolution and is a cornerstone of
the environmental research and education initiatives of Washington
University," Chase said. "The Living Learning Center will provide
much-needed space for our growing programs and also will serve as focus
for research and education itself."</p>
<p>Eighteen St. Louis-area high-school students will be among the first
to use the Living Learning Center beginning June 1 as part of the NSF
collaborative grant for the Shaw Nature Preserve and Tyson to instruct
the interns in ecological research.</p>
<p>Last summer, the students went out to Shaw to learn basic skills and
research techniques in the part of the program called SIFT &mdash; Shaw
Institute for Field Training. This summer, those same students will ply
their newfound skills on research projects with WUSTL faculty and
graduate students as part of TERF &mdash; Tyson Ecological Research
Fellowship.</p>
<p>Washington University is in the process of finding support for the
Living Learning Center, and several naming opportunities are available,
including the center itself and its combined lab and classroom,
computer lab and outdoor teaching deck.</p>