Oct 6 2010
Unity College has announced that GO Logic Homes of Belfast, Maine has been awarded the contract for the design of a one-of-a-kind residence hall on an American college campus.
GO Logic Homes will design a Unity College residence hall to the Passive House standard. If the construction achieves the standard, it will be the first Passive House residence hall constructed on a college or university campus in the United States, confirm officials at the Passive House Institute US of Urbana, Illinois.
In June, Unity College was awarded a grant from The Kendeda Fund to construct a "cottage style" residence based on principles of passive house design. The project entails an educational component involving Unity College students in the design, construction, and monitoring of the facility through curricular and co-curricular activities.
The Passive House residence hall will use sunlight to generate energy with using little or no active mechanical systems. Sunlight will be converted into usable heat.
"It is great to be working with Unity College, a widely recognized leader in environmental stewardship," noted Matthew O'Malia, GO Logic Architect and two time New England American Institute of Architects Design Excellence Award winner. "Designing and building a college residence hall to the Passive House standard is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate what is now possible in energy efficient design and construction."
O'Malia added that the project will create a template for other colleges and universities to follow.
"Not only is the Passive House standard at the very leading edge of the 'what's next' for college and university campus construction, but this project is taking the concept one step further by involving students in all aspects of the project," O'Malia added. "The fact that the completed residence hall will not only house students but provide opportunities for sustainability curricular and co-curricular educational programming is another aspect that makes this a potentially transformative project."
"The direct involvement of college students in the design and construction of green student housing is a paradigm shift," noted Robert Constantine, Vice President for College Advancement at Unity College. "We will create a new model for how colleges and universities approach not only how they construct structures on their campuses, but in how they conceive of them."
Source: http://www.unity.edu/