The two major construction sites on campus, the Valley Performing Arts Center and the Student Recreation Center, will be considered for green building certification as soon as they are completed.
Bryanne Knight, the Project Coordinator for the recreation center ensures the buildings meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) requirements.
“Basically there’s a scorecard we have,” Knight said. “Say 10 percent of material is recyclable, we get a point for that.”
According to The Green Building Council’s website , which developed the LEED program, the program is a “green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance” through conserving water, energy, and other resources.
The website indicates the LEED points are awarded on a 100 point scale and certification is achieved by meeting 40 of those points, while gold certification is achieved by meeting 60 points.
Nathaniel Wilson, campus architect said both buildings are going for the gold LEED certification.
Wilson added, the recreational center and performing arts center both have certain features that make the buildings green. Both buildings have glass walls that allow natural light in to reduce energy costs.
The airflow in these buildings will not come from the ceiling, instead it will come from the floor, Wilson said.
The use of water will also be reduced both inside and outside, he added.
The men’s restrooms have waterless urinals and the women’s restrooms use less water per flush. The entire system will be tied in through the campus hot water, he added.
The landscaping for the performance center will be water efficient since the plants will not need much water. Inside the building, the carpets and the wood sub base are made entirely from recyclable material, Knight said.
“When we replace the floor in ten, twenty or thirty years, we can actually recycle the wood and the plastic under it,” Knight said. “Pretty much everything we put out there is recyclable.”
Gailya Brown, director of the performing arts center, said the performance art building is the first major one to open in the San Fernando Valley. Students as well as the community will be able to come to the 1,700 seat performance hall and see big name acts like major opera singer and a comedian.
Sudents will have access to the concert hall in addition to a 178 seat black box theater and a full studio for the campus radio station KCSN.
“It’ll make putting on performances much easier for everyone in the music department because of the proximity,” said senior Colin Pearson, 21, a music education major. “The equipment will have a much shorter distance to travel.”
The Valley Performing Arts Center is funded through a public-private partnership, said Knight, while the recreation center is funded through the University Student Union fee.
About 75 million dollars of the money for the performing arts center has been taken through state bond measures, 50 million is provided through private donors and the rest of the funds are from a working endowment, said Brown.
The current 6,000 sq. ft. fitness center holds approximately 35 pieces of cardio equipment and 75 pieces of other equipment. The new recreation center will have over 20,000 sq. ft. that will more than triple the current cardio equipment allowing 100 people to be on a treadmill at once, said Knight.
“The idea is to offer more to students,” Knight said.
