Cuyahoga Community College's Western Campus STEM Center Achieves LEED Gold Status!
Cuyahoga Community College's Western Campus STEM Center has officially achieved LEED Gold certification!
More than 4,500 plants grow on “living walls” inside the Western Campus STEM Center at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®), serving as the green centerpiece of the STEM Center. The plant-filled panels stretch up to 22 feet high in the atrium, creating a healthy, natural, and peaceful environment for students and staff. Solar paned powered skylights bring natural light streaming into the interior - expected to generate 5% of the building’s electricity needs.
This project included a 2-story addition of over 40,000 square feet as well as a renovation of the 8,800 square feet of existing lab space. The project diverted 81% of construction waste from the landfill and is extremely energy and water-efficient. An Exemplary Performance Credit was earned for 31% of materials containing recycled content. Other sustainability features of the new building include:
- A near 40% reduction in typical energy use due to building design, efficient heating, and cooling systems, LED lighting and solar panels, bringing an estimated annual savings of more than $50,000
- Plumbing fixtures designed to save nearly 79,000 gallons of water per year
- An emphasis on using regional and recycled materials during construction
- The College also diverted 81% of construction waste from landfills through sorting and recycling during the project.
Earning LEED Gold went above and beyond the project's goal of LEED Silver. We are extremely proud of this achievement. We enjoyed working with Cuyahoga Community College, Weber Murphy Fox Architects, Ellenzweig, Karpinski Engineering, and Emerald Built Environments on this amazing project.
For more information see our project case study.
