Clemson University’s Baruch Institute receives LEED Gold certification

Published: March 15, 2010

The new research building at the Baruch Institute in Georgetown has a two-story atrium that fills the core with natural light. image by: Peter Hull

GEORGETOWN — It’s not only the science inside the Baruch Institute’s new research building that draws inspiration from its idyllic surroundings. The structure itself was designed to respect the environment and to work with it. 

This environmental sensitivity has helped Clemson University and project architects LS3P Associates in Charleston earn LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

To qualify for LEED certification — which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — buildings must meet strict criteria. The highest designation is Platinum.

Clemson has committed to achieve at least LEED Silver ratings for all newly constructed buildings and major renovations.

The state-of-the-art building at the Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science is a 12,600-square-foot facility with room for 14 faculty and staff members, large multipurpose rooms and smart classrooms that connect Clemson students statewide.

The building's light fixtures turn themselves on or off when people walk in and out of the rooms, the air-conditioning system recycles the energy it uses to heat and cool the building and the restrooms save thousands of gallons of water a year.

A two-story central atrium combined with the building’s orientation flood the offices and common areas with natural light. From top to bottom, the building was furnished with locally sourced materials and fixtures. The orange wall covering in the staff break room is made from recycled paper.

Natural materials were used for the floor and wall coverings, and chairs in the meeting rooms are made from recycled materials, which in turn can be recycled.

Baruch faculty member Dan Hitchcock designed two stormwater bioretention systems, or rain gardens, at the rear of the building.

The stormwater management process uses basins of native plants to manage water quantity while removing contaminants associated with stormwater runoff from rooftops and nearby surfaces. Guttering and downspouts direct rainwater from the building to the ponds.

Byron Edwards, vice president and director of LS3P’s Healthcare and Technology group, said the building has state-of-the-art energy-efficient features. For example, the lavatory system features low-flow toilets and waterless urinals that save 40,000 gallons of water a year.

An interior design feature used reclaimed wood from a barn that was demolished at the Clemson University Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville. And the air-conditioning system uses an energy recovery wheel that recycles heat byproduct from the system, saving nearly 25 percent of the power of a conventional system.

“In other words, the bill should be about a quarter less than if we’d designed this as a standard office building,” Edwards said.

Gene Eidson, director of the Baruch Institute, said that through its architecture, materials and energy systems, the new building embodies the university’s commitment to sustainable development and its sustainable environment focus area.

“The installation of environmentally friendly rain gardens, and research and educational programs associated with this technology, reflect the institute’s mission of advancing sustainable coastal environments through science,” Eidson said.

Clemson and LS3P also received a 2009 first-place Design Excellence Award in sustainable design from the American Society of Interior Designers Carolinas Chapter and a first-place American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers local chapter Technology Award.

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