Sustainability was goal for planners of the North Campus facilities

By Roger Segelken

Planners of the North Campus Residential Initiative (NCRI) facilities knew the project would make a big impact on the Cornell community, and they hoped it would be a positive impact. "Sustainable design" became a goal -- sustainable, in the sense of environmentally responsible during the construction and life of the facilities, and lovable, or at least likable, for a long time.

Freshman Alexander Gerschel, from New York City, studies Sept. 8 using the natural light in the second-floor lounge of Court Hall. Robert Barker/University Photography

Whether the new North Campus facilities will still be here and cherished 100 years from now, which is one of architect Charles Dagit's definitions of sustainable, remains to be seen. But the results are in from the construction phase of the project: Planners who had hoped to give themselves an "A" now say they'll use what they learned -- while making NCRI the most sustainable facilities so far at Cornell -- to make subsequent Big Red projects even greener.

"When it comes to energy efficiency, we met, or exceeded, all the building standards for new construction in New York state," said John Kiefer, project leader from Cornell's Planning Design and Construction (PDC) unit. "However, we chose to grade ourselves, right from the start, on the much more rigorous and comprehensive LEED standards of the U.S. Green Building Council," he said, referring to the voluntary Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. (Details of the LEED rating system can be found at http://www.usgbc.org, while PDC's self-report is at http://ri.campuslife.cornell.edu/sustainable.htm.)

Residence halls architect Alan Chimacoff said his firm's focus on sustainability "was directed toward making buildings that are extremely well-insulated and balancing the proportion of window to wall to maximize visibility, while minimizing the consumption of fuels and electricity for heating and cooling." He said that orientation, arrangement and the "skin" of all buildings should be understood and designed to maximize efficiencies, minimize waste "and achieve the best overall environmental/architectural result. It is a fascinating balancing act."

Project planners offer some examples of their efforts to make NCRI both environmentally responsible and people-friendly:

• Mews and Court halls and the Community Commons use less electricity for lighting in the daytime, thanks to all the windows in the walls and clerestory glass overhead. Even more efficient than the windows are the well-insulated walls and ceilings.

• The only places where relatively inefficient, incandescent light bulbs can be found are in food-service areas, where the high-efficiency fluorescent lamps would make the food look unappealing.

• Energy to heat and cool the buildings is conserved by passing ventilation air through liquid-based heat exchangers. Air conditioning comes from the university's super-efficient Lake Source Cooling system. Every residence hall room has its own thermostat. And when neither heat nor air conditioning is needed, residence hall windows open to the fresh air outside.

"If you miss that 'new building smell,' that's not such a bad thing," said Kiefer, noting that only low-volatility adhesives, sealants and paints were used, and there is absolutely no vinyl floor covering. Community Commons architect Dagit specified polished concrete floors for many spaces in that building, and where carpeting is used, it is recyclable by the manufacturer when it wears out. One pleasant scent comes from the ample woodwork, which is made of a locally grown and sustainable species -- maple. Materials in the upholstery fabrics already have been recycled.

On the crescent's walkway leading to Court Hall is one of the new street lamps (the lampposts are made from recycled aluminum engine blocks) and some of the trees planted for the North Campus Residential Initiative. Robert Barker/University Photography

Recycling continues outside the new buildings, where lampposts for the octagonal streetlights were aluminum engine blocks in a previous life, cast in a foundry that once made Revolutionary War cannons.

But the ultimate in recycling has to be the 180-year-old Cradit-Moore house. Once the home of an early director of student health services, Dr. Norman Moore, the house was moved from the NCRI site a half-mile up Pleasant Grove Road, at the university's expense, and donated to Historic Ithaca, which sold the building as a private residence.

Part of the venerable structure's name lives on in Cradit Farm Drive, the newly constructed road that winds through North Campus to link Pleasant Grove with Thurston Avenue. The new through road represents a neighborly concession to the residents of the adjacent Forest Home area, Kiefer said. Original plans had called for a dead-end road into North Campus, but the redesign will divert some campus-bound traffic from residential streets.

Not that NCRI is expected to increase traffic, said Jean Reese, project planner in Student and Academic Services. Because only about 8 percent of Cornell freshmen own cars, an all-freshmen North Campus will be a pedestrian-friendly place, with two more bus routes to enhance mobility and bicycle-storage rooms inside the new residence halls.

Fewer cars also means more green space, because no additional parking areas had to be built for residents. In fact, project planners report a net decrease in impermeable surfaces -- the combined square footage of roof tops and pavement -- due, in part, to the removal of Pleasant Grove Apartments, the sprawling, single-story complex that was surrounded by asphalt and concrete

There also is a net increase in trees and shrubs -- counting the 619 planted to replace the handful that were removed for construction -- and they join verdant hedgerows that landscape designers left in place along the east and south borders of the project. Besides reducing air pollution, some of the trees help lessen light pollution from buildings and passing cars that could interfere with the telescope in the astronomy department's Fuertes Observatory. Also, outdoor lighting fixtures were designed to cast illumination downward and away from the telescope, Kiefer said, and further accommodations will be made if light pollution interrupts astronomical observations.

As is appropriate for projects in a university setting, NCRI has been a learning process for all involved, architect Dagit said. Some of what his firm learned about sustainable design will be applied to its next Cornell project, the refurbishing of Helen Newman Hall.

Meanwhile, NCRI project director Kiefer already is looking ahead to challenges in the West Campus Residential Initiative, where more facilities will be constructed for Cornell's sophomore, junior and senior students. "NCRI was the most environmentally sustainable project ever completed at Cornell," he said. "West Campus will be even better."