The forward-looking design of the new teaching and learning building exceeds the criteria of the President's Climate Commitment, signed by HMC President Maria Klawe in 2008. This commitment requires that all new campus construction meet the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver standard or its equivalent.
The new building is on track to receive LEED Gold certification and LEED Platinum is in sight. Either way, HMC's new building will be a national model for sustainable campus building design and construction.
Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) is an internationally recognized “green” building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building was designed and built using strategies intended to improve performance in metrics such as energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Learn more about LEED.
"In setting high LEED goals for the new building, HMC continues its commitment to environmental stewardship of its campus. Mudd built the very first LEED-certified building (Sontag Residence Hall, 2003) in Claremont, and has since established a policy that all new buildings must achieve LEED Silver or better," said Malcolm Lewis '67, alumnus, HMC Trustee and founder of the Patton and Claire Lewis Fellowship in Engineering Professional Practice.
Lewis, who was active in the development of the LEED Green Building Rating System for the U.S. Green Building Council, believed that educational institutions have a particular responsibility to build sustainably, given the long life of their facilities and their mission in educating future generations.
Green aspects of the new building's design include the following: