Continued: LEED Gold
In addition to Boltinhouse and Baird, speakers included Michael Koman, the university’s director of sustainability, and Rohail Rashid Kazi, hall government president for Honors Residence and a sophomore biology-chemistry major from Greenville.
Koman said the LEED Gold rating sets a new standard for green building at the university.
“The University of South Carolina was among the first schools to implement green buildings on campus and in the country,” Koman said. “Today we celebrate the certification of our greenest building to date on campus. It is part of a larger campus movement and commitment that is being led by our students to make Carolina more sustainable, but to also make South Carolina a better, healthier and financially rewarding place to live.”
Honors Residence is the second building on campus to have a LEED designation. Green (West) Quad, which opened in 2004, was awarded a LEED Silver rating in 2005.
The green features of Honors Residence range from energy savings and water consumption to the recycling of the bluestone and veil block from the “Towers” residence halls that were razed to build the new residence hall. The 191,123-square-foot hall features 356 rooms, numerous study areas and living rooms on each floor, multiple smart classrooms for instruction, an indoor bicycle room with shower, a dining hall and a Starbucks.
For more information on the sustainability at the University of South Carolina, visit the Web site: www.sc.edu/green. For more information on the USGBC LEED certification, go to the Web site: www.usgbc.org/