Diplomatic Pouch

LEED Pillars of Environmental Design

The new SIS building is designed to be LEED Gold certified-the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, recognizes performance in five key areas of human and environmental health:

energy efficiency
Plans call for more than 7,000 square feet of photovoltaic solar panels on the roof to generate over 120 kilowatt hours per day. The design will allow natural daylight in all spaces, and large, operable windows will minimize heating and cooling system usage.

water savings
Rain water will be collected for building usage and landscape irrigation. Water not captured will fall onto a green, vegetative roof to reduce run-off and support local biodiversity. Low-flow faucets and fixtures will reduce water consumption.

materials selection
Many building materials will be made from recycled goods manufactured locally to reduce energy used in transport. SIS will also use materials produced in environmentally and socially responsible ways, and will reduce its production of waste

indoor environmental quality
The facility will use nontoxic materials and state-of-the-art green installations. The building will induce natural air flows and promote healthy indoor air quality through effective ventilation. Indoor foliage and large windows will connect occupants with the natural environment.

sustainable site development
The design created by the architectural firm William McDonough + Partners includes minimizing construction waste, recycling refuse, and using nontoxic materials with positive environmental impact.

The new SIS green building reflects our commitment to advance ecological stewardship, preserve human dignity, and work for social justice.

A New School of International Service
Construction for new SIS building now underway

Ground was officially broken on November 14, 2007, for the innovative new home of the School of International Service, a "green" building that will rise over the next two years on what is now an asphalt parking lot at the edge of the quad.

From left are SIS associate dean Leeanne Dunsmore; Professor Emeritus Millidge Walker; SIS alumna of the year Sherry Mueller, SIS/BA '65; Bishop John Schol; Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii); AU President Neil Kerwin; SIS dean Louis Goodman; graduate student Blair Mersinger, SIS/BA '06; and Professor Paul Wapner. (Photos by Jeff Watts)

The 70,000 square foot building will be "the most functional, most beautiful, most environmentally friendly home in the world for a school of international affairs," SIS dean Louis Goodman told the standing-room-only crowd of several hundred that spilled out of the white tent at the corner of the quad by Bender Library where the building will rise.

The buildings sustainable design will be "setting a powerful example for all of us," said Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. "You have demonstrated dramatically that the time for talking is over." The decorated World War II combat veteran was wielding the same shovel that another veteran of war, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, used when he broke ground for the first SIS building in 1957 and called on the newly launched school to train a new generation for "the waging of peace."

Now the countrys largest school of international service, it has outgrown the 1950s-era building where once, as Professor Emeritus Millidge Walker recalled, the initial 12 faculty members "were rather spaciously accommodated."

The new building is not only vastly larger. It is also in keeping with AUs mission, stature, and influence, said AU President Neil Kerwin. "For more than 50 years, AUs School of International Service has been educating young men and women for international service-a distinctive trait of this school and our entire university," Kerwin said. "With a new green home for our scholars, students, and academic programs, we rededicate ourselves to this mission."

At the time of the groundbreaking, the school was halfway through its fund-raising goal of $20 million, according to President Kerwin. Designed by William McDonough, a pioneering architect of "green" design, it will be LEED Gold certified, the benchmark for environmental design.

It will bring together faculty now scattered around campus in eight buildings into one large space, filled with natural light and designed to be an inviting, healthful space. Plans call for the building to have more than 7,000 square feet of solar panels, collect and store rain water for building use and irrigation, and use materials made of recycled materials produced in a socially and environmentally just manner.

The ceremony marked the launch of a new phase for the long-envisioned building. "In two years time, Im sure we wont be sitting in a tent in a parking lot," said Paul Wapner, an SIS faculty member whose promotion of sustainable design was instrumental in the buildings final form. "Well be in a gorgeous, light-filled building powered by the sun."

The building is projected to open in 2010.

Article adapted from "Groundbreaking held for new SIS building" by Sally Acharya, American Today, November 15, 2007