Talking Stick - July/August 2018 - 55

ing of how a building can support its
occupants long after it is constructed.
WELL measures air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind
and relies on post-construction assessments to ensure that the building
is performing as expected (similar to
continuous commissioning mentioned
above).
Another critical component of
connecting the end user to health
and wellness is biophilic design, says
Marc Snyder, associate principal at
4240. "Biophilic design brings nature
indoors. We know from numerous
studies that access to the landscape,
daylighting, and bringing natural
elements like plants, wood, and water
into indoor spaces increases productivity, academic performance, and the
well-being of occupants while also
reducing stress."
The architects at 4240 have integrated biophilic design in several of
the buildings they have designed at
CSU. Tree houses in the new Warner
College of Natural Resources addition
connect students to Sherwood Forest,
creating study spaces that are indoors
and also surrounded by nature. The
firm has also integrated living walls,
operable garage doors, reclaimed
building materials, and natural art into
designed spaces to connect campus
residents to nature. Esteban feels that
clean air, clean water, and healthy
indoor spaces are a public health issue
and that we will see a shift to healthier
buildings and healthier occupants if
we focus on that.

WHOLE WORLD
VIEW
While each of these individual strategies, practices, and tactics has its own
impact, it's important to also keep
an eye on the overall picture, including factors that may not immediately
seem connected to sustainability. For
example, Andrews sees racial and social

tensions as a major driver in next-gen
sustainability. Campuses will have to
balance efforts and expenses related to
achieving carbon neutrality with the
rising costs of attending college, and
housing programs will have to balance
the resources needed for continuous commissioning, living labs, and
cutting-edge technology with room and
board rates. Over the long run, these
efforts will reduce operating expenses
significantly, but they often require
upfront investments. Keeping higher
education accessible for underrepresented students has to go hand-in-hand
with facing climate change; otherwise,
campuses can price out the very students they say we want to invite in.
With hurricanes, droughts, wildfires, pollution, and lack of clean
drinking water increasingly impacting
communities across the globe, campuses also have to ask who is most at
risk from the effects of climate change
and if they are prepared to face this
new reality. Dollard points out that college and university campuses are well
positioned to respond effectively to
climate change since they already have
so much experience responding to
emergencies that range from natural
disasters and active shooters to power
outages and hacking incidents that
require quick response and recovery.
As mini cities, campuses often have
access to emergency housing, generators, and warehouses full of supplies.
Beyond campus, wealthy residents
can afford insurance and bottled water
and often have the resources to relocate
or to pay the rising costs to rebuild after
disasters. But what about those who are
most vulnerable in the communities?
Consider that 13 years after Hurricane Katrina, there remain pockets of
low-income residents who have never
recovered from the devastation, often
people of color living in underprivileged
neighborhoods. The 2017 hurricanes
in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,

Car-Free
Campus?
The Washington Post reported last
November that Uber signed a deal
to purchase 24,000 autonomous
vehicles from Volvo. The early pilots
for self-driving cars have had mixed
results, with at least one pedestrian killed, but overall safety has
surpassed that of human-operated
vehicles. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
already has autonomous cars, and
a study by RethinkX research firm
predicts that, by 2030, "95 percent
of U.S. passenger-miles traveled will
be served by on-demand Autonomous Electric Vehicles" owned by
fleets rather than individuals. This
could drop the number of passenger
vehicles on the roads in the U.S. from
247 million to 44 million.
These predictions may be a little
ambitious, but car-share options are
already impacting campuses. Bieker
stresses the need to start planning
for pick-up and drop-off areas for
Uber and Lyft in campus projects
and making parking structures
adaptable for a future when there
are fewer privately owned vehicles
that need to park on campus.
Architects at 4240 developed a
parking garage at the new Elizabeth
Hotel in Fort Collins, Colorado,
that, in the future, could convert to
first-floor retail and upper-floor living
units. With construction costs running as high as $20,000 to $30,000
per parking space in parking structures, Bieker advises designing
and building parking structures on
campus to be adaptable for a future
where long-term car storage and
parking are no longer needed but
retail, housing, and office space will
be in high demand.

 CONTINUES  70

JULY + AUGUST 2018

55
Talking Stick - July/August 2018

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