Ellie Troxell
Sustainability Associate, Civil Engineering
Colorado State University – The University Center for the Arts completed construction of their new 6,000 square-foot expansion to the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art in which the Hartford-Tandstad Collection will be featured. The museum has earned One Green Globe rating from Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors, a green building guidance and assessment tool offered by the Green Building Initiative (GBI). Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors consists of six environmental assessment areas (Project Management, Energy, Water, Materials and Resources, Emissions and Other Impacts, and Indoor Environment). Green Globes further offers assessment tools for New Construction and Existing Buildings. Buildings that achieve 35% or more of the points possible in the Green Globes rating system are eligible for a certification of one, two, three, or four Green Globes.
The Gregory Allicar Museum of Art was the first project, for all stakeholders involved, seeking Green Globes certification.
“Green Globes was an excellent rating system to pursue for this project. University projects are typically a design-build process on a faster-paced schedule. Green Globes was a very flexible system and assessment process that was adaptable to fit the scope of the project and was less cumbersome than LEED. Due to our positive experience, Green Globes will be considered for future projects.” Tony Flores, CSU Facilities Management, Project Manager.
The achievement of a One Green Globe rating reflects a commitment to the design and renovation of the museum with sustainability as a major focus. One notable accomplishment was the diversion of 93% of construction waste from landfills through recycling and reuse programs, classifying the project as net zero waste. Linny Frickman, Founding Director of the University Arts Museum adds “The new expansion to the Gregory Allicar Museum is a superb addition to our campus’s arts facilities. With an extraordinary team of builders, architects, facilities management staff and colleagues in the Institute for the Build Environment, we achieved the kind of building envelope that protects works of art to best-practice standards. It was important for us to balance the needs of a diverse collection of art objects, such as the need for stringent climate control, with sustainable building practices. The Green Globes process and designation allowed us to do this and to support the ongoing sustainability efforts at CSU. When the museum opens on September 10, 2016, I think our audiences will be thrilled with the results and the new arts opportunities that the Allicar brings to the community.”
Graduate and undergraduate student interns with the Institute for the Built Environment, at Colorado State University, were directly involved in the Green Globes coordination and documentation process. Students in Construction Management and Civil Engineering programs were able to gain real-world project experience by participating and guiding the Green Globes certification process. In addition, the building continues to teach every day.
For more information about this project and other IBE project certifications, visit IBE’s website, http://www.ibe.colostate.edu/certification.aspx; and to learn more about Green Globes, visit: http://www.thegbi.org/.
