LEED® By Example

“We specialize in educational types of projects, from schools to universities,” he explains. “They were aware of our firm from having worked on other schools in the region, and they were aware that each of our projects is crafted for the individual place and the individual institution.”

Initially, Farewell says the Biedrons didn’t know specifically what they wanted from the building, other than something that was natural to the landscape and fostered intimacy and the educational experience they had in mind.

Click photo to enlarge“They didn’t have the vision of this being a green building or a sustainable building,” says Farewell. “But, as we got more into it, Mark became more interested in green issues and steered the project in that direction. Eventually, it became a real mandate for the design.”

Biedron estimates the architects were 75-percent done with construction drawings when he learned about the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) program

“We said, ‘Take a two-month time-out,’” Biedron says. “Then, we asked ourselves what it would take to build the greenest building they could possibly figure out.”

At that time, both the USGBC and LEED certification were quite new. Biedron says he began looking at every part of the building and asking what could be sourced from old material, what could have a high recycled content to it, and what was environmentally safe.

“There are really a lot of things that happen when you build a green building,” he says. “One of the big things is energy savings and that’s what everybody’s looking at right now. But, with a school, the idea was that we also wanted it to feel good in this building and for people not to get sick in this building.”

Biedron became an expert on sustainability, eventually becoming a LEED Certified Professional in the process. By the time he returned to the architects, the building had taken on a slightly different cast, although he says some parts of the 13,500 ft² classroom design didn’t require much tweaking.

“Luckily they had done a lot of things right to begin with,” says Biedron. “It wasn’t too radical a change.”

And, while the architects had not, at that point, done a LEED-certified building, Farewell says his firm was very interested in pursuing it with Biedron.

“It’s really a great pairing of space and mission,” says Farewell. “Mark was extraordinarily resourceful in terms of identifying areas to pursue, from locating the materials to exploring the energy issues to pushing the project toward the level it achieved.”

Ultimately, the building was only the second independent school in the United States to earn LEED Gold Certification when it was completed in 2003. A second structure, an 8,000 ft² arts building included in the Farewell Mills-created master plan, is now under construction, and Farewell and the Biedrons expect it will receive a Platinum designation when completed.

HAND-CRAFTED SPACES

Given his background and his interest – not to mention his own LEED certification – it’s not surprising that Biedron opted to act as his own contractor for the project through Solid Wood Construction.

One of his biggest challenges from that standpoint: using construction materials and methods that were new to local building officials.