SUNY-ESF will construct a new academic research building in an effort to rehabilitate the campus and accommodate a growth in enrollment and research.
The building, which will be located directly behind Lawrinson Hall, will house the school’s Department of Environmental and Forest Biology. It will include several laboratories, offices and support spaces, in addition to extensive landscaping, natural ventilation and a solar pre-heat wall to help reduce the campus’ carbon footprint.
The building will be constructed in two phases. The first will include an outdoor classroom, 12 main research laboratories and associated support space, faculty offices, instructional support spaces, and graduate student offices, said Joseph Rufo, vice president for administration at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. A solar pre-heat wall will be built in the second phase.
Construction has been in the planning stages for the last couple years and the school has received the funding for the first phase, said Rufo. Though final costs are still being determined, both phases total around $86 million, he said. Phase one is estimated to cost $44 million and the second phase is estimated to cost $42 million.
He predicts construction will start in fall 2013 and finish by summer 2015. Funding for the second phase should be acquired in the next year and a half, he said, depending on the state of the economy.
The landscaping around the building will not only manage rainwater runoff but will include an outdoor classroom, said Rufo. Elm and Chestnut trees will be planted to aid the research being done there.
The solar pre-heat wall, which will face Lawrinson, will capture sunlight and use it to help warm the building during the wintertime, he said.
In another effort to be environmentally healthy, limited parking spaces will be available around the building. Rufo said school officials did not want to sacrifice the outdoor classroom for a parking lot. Instead, the lack of spaces will encourage alternate forms of transportation, such as carpooling or riding a bike.
‘We’re anticipating that it will be LEED platinum,’ said Rufo. LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certifies that a building was designed and built to achieve high performance in environmental health.
‘The LEED platinum certification, I think, is symbolic of who we are as a campus and kind of what our core values are, relative to sustainability and being good stewards to the environment,’ he said.
Ellenzweig is listed as the architectural design firm responsible for the construction of the building, according to an ESF press release. The firm, based in Massachusetts, also built Syracuse University’s Life Sciences Complex, which was completed in 2008.
In addition to pushing the school’s academic mission forward, Rufo said the building will be symbolic of how ESF should construct other facilities and evaluate their effects on the environment.
Said Rufo: ‘It’s always great to have a new building to be able to go into and to show students and to show prospective students and parents.’
mjberner@syr.edu