Living Up to LEED Silver

The new B. Thomas Golisano Library at Roberts Wesleyan College (RWC) in Rochester, NY, debuted in September 2007, designed and built with the intention of becoming the first academic facility to achieve LEED Silver certification. The efforts of architectural firm Leo A. Daly and SWBR design were successful; that status was conferred the following summer.

Two years later, LJ spoke with library facilities director T. Richard Greer about how the library is operating. “It's been performing as designed,” said Greer. “It comes down to planning and making sure the people have the knowledge to install things properly.” With that in mind, the building team invited 35 construction personnel to an all-day seminar on LEED building practices.

Builders faced many first-time scenarios, like drilling a series of wells ranging from 49' deep to 340' deep. They regulate the temperature of the two-story, 43,000 square foot facility through geothermal methods. Water is either heated up or cooled off as it is pumped through varying depths of wells.

The LEED “commissioning” process makes it even more important that the building “operates as designed,” said Greer. A LEED representative reviews construction throughout the process and turns in a report at the end as well as a six-month follow-up.

Greer considers LEED practices as “just commonsense things we should be doing anyway.” In addition to LEED qualification, the library's features make it 40 percent more energy-efficient than New York State Energy Code recommendations.

The features include renewable materials such as cork flooring, carpet squares made of highly recycled content, and sunflower board cabinetry; efficient T-5 fluorescent lighting; energy derived from wind or bio fuels purchased from Hess Energy; natural light leveraged throughout to extend energy efficiency; optimal north-south building footprint orientation; solar shades to reflect the direct rays of the sun and bounce light to specific areas; and locally harvested materials, saving gasoline and transportation costs and resources.

Like many new facilities, the library features a 3000 square foot Information Commons comprised of a café, computer lab, group study rooms, and large meeting rooms and having wireless capability. In the words of the architectural firm, the space serves as an example of the “architecture of interaction.” The commons allows students and staff interaction, encouraging increased use. It is a dynamic space where students can come to study but also “hang out” in the coffee shop, by the fireplace, or in the reading lounges.

Ultimately, function must be the most important criterion. Because of shelving, the library wasn't able to achieve a daylighting credit in its LEED certification. Despite large windows, natural light is only able to penetrate one-third of the way into the center from all sides, said Greer. The standard is total penetration.

Overall, however, without a designated student union on campus, the library is one of several buildings that serve as “student gathering places around campus,” said Barry Smith, VP of student life. Students immediately see it as a place for studying and socializing. It's spacious and “appropriately placed on campus” as a destination. LEED characteristics are often unnoticed to the untrained eye, but the internal lights are sensitive and respond to outside conditions. The overall aesthetic is one of a “sense of place and balance.”