Sustainable Universities
Minshu Deng Ian Rock
sustainable campuses Table of Contents
On the Map....1
Duke Sustainability....3
Big Schools....7
SITES and LEED ...9 Public vs. Private Small Schools....10 Project Types....12
Conclusion....13
An Introduction College campuses are special spaces. They are the spaces in which students may learn and discover their passions, and the spaces in which society looks for the next best ideas. Realizing this, our question and the starting motivation for this project became: who designs these spaces and how? Specifically, how does one design the landscapes that provide the greater context for classrooms, libraries and dining halls? While it has become a more visible trend over the past few decades, sustainability was and continues to be the historic standard. The job of university landscape architects, the individuals who oversee projects involving campus landscape design, is inherently to work with sustainability. Landscape architecture must consider the lay of the land, how water flows through it, how wildlife depend on it and how humans use it, among other things. For Duke, sustainability aside, one of the guiding principles for campus planning states that “Duke is a collection of memorable places.� From the iconic Duke Chapel on the main quad tothe new stormwater reclamation pond under construction, a combination of design philosophy and technical expertise in sustainability measures allows for Duke to make its campus beautiful in both form and function. Other schools are making progress as well. The purpose of this magazine is to highlight the continued and novel changes happening in the world of campus landscape sustainability. As Duke students we have a particular interest in our own school’s initiatives, but we also take a look at other large schools, some small schools, and both public and private institutions.
Who’s on the
MAP.
Here are the 14 colleges we have
chosen to highlight in our magazine. each campus is home to a number of
sustainable projects and design principles. This is far from being
a complete list of sustainably designed campuses, but in making our list we chose the schools that have been regularly featured in sustainability rankings and those that were recommended by
expert faculty and project mentors.
The Colleges UC Berkeley
Duke University Durham, Nc Acreage: 8,455 Student body size: 6,495 Private Annual Tuition: $45,620
Berkeley, CA Acreage: 178 Student body size: 36,204 Public Annual Tuition: $32,068
Why we chose us: NEw stormwater reclamation pond, THE NEW ENVIroNMENT HALL, THE SMART HOME
Why we chose them: Promoting a sustainable culture, Efficient and clean heating and cooling throughout the school
Princeton Princeton, NJ Acreage: 500 Student body size: 8,010 Private Annual Tuition: $53,250 Why we chose them: Their Comprehensive sustainabilty plan
University of Washington Seattle, Wa Acreage: 703 Student body size: 42,907 Public Annual Tuiton: $27,034
Palo Alto, Ca Acreage: 8,180 Student Body size: 7,061 Private annual Tuition: $42,690
why we chose them: Sustainable Culture among students, Green waste management
Why we chose them: sustainable vegetation management, NEW GLOBAL ECOLOGY RESEARCH CENTER
Georgia Tech
Harvard
Atlanta, Ga Acreage: 400 Student Body size: 14,558 public annual tuition: $27,562
Cambridge, ma Acreage: 210 Student body size: 21,000 Private Annual tuition: $59,950
Why we chose them: THE eco-commons, ongoing TREE PLANTING
Stanford
Why we chose them: The Green Teams, Commitment to a universally Sustainable campus
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, nc Acreage: 729 Student body size: 29,278 Public Annual tuition: $30,122 Why we chose them: Rams head center GREEN ROOF, PLANTING OF NATIVE SPECIES
Dickinson University
Oberlin College
Evergreen State College
Carlisle, PA Acreage: 170 Student Body size: 2,384 Private Annual tution: $62,354
Oberlin, Ohio Acreage: 440 Student body size: 2,900 Private Annual Tuition: $59,474
Olympia, wa Acreage: 1000 Student body size: 4,509 Public annual tuition: $8,500
Why we chose them: Sustainable Buildings and Edible Campus landscaping
Why we chose them: LIVING MACHINE WASTEWATER TREATMENT, THE AJLC
Why we chose them: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE LAB
Virginia CharlottesVille, Va Acreage: 1,682 Student Body Size: 14,641 Public Annual Tuition: $39,852 Why we Chose them: The Dell
College of The Atlantic BAr harbor, Maine Acreage: 300 Student body size: 364 Private annual tuition: $49,791 Why we chose them: CARBON FREE, WASTE FREE GRADUATION AND COMMITMENT TO RENEWABLE ENERGY
UKE
How the Blue Devils are Sustainability Turning Green Mark Hough has been Duke
Duke Smart Home
The Environment Hall
Ongoing/Future Project: Stormwater Pond
Can sustainability enhance landscape beauty? The beauty of a landscape can increase the sustainability of the biophysical environment through
Duke University Wetland Center
perhaps less intuitively, the site of a stormwater retention pond can make individuals appreciate the Landscape architect Elizabeth Meyer goes even further, arguing, “Sustainable landscape design must do more than function or perform ecologically; it must being said, there are certainly traditional conceptions gardens that are ultimately water-intensive, unsustainable landscapes would tend to fall under these tradi-
These beautiful wetlands are found along the feature the same level of maintenance, general aesthetics of space and form can guide designers in
perhaps assist in restructuring her priorities and values
The Duke Smart Home The Smart Home is Duke’s LEED Platinum “live-in” laboratory where resident students are encouraged to explore smart ways to use technology in the home. Most of this project’s sustainable features are buildingcentric. However the toilets use recycled rainwater and the “Smart Garden” behind the building has a number of growing beds that members of the Duke and local communities may use for growing vegetables.
area was created to treat Duke runoff before it goes educational signage, boardwalks and outlooks that are popular for birdwatching
East Campus Wetland Reconstruction Project Constructed wetlands are an important part of addressing water issues on college campuses. Wetlands provide a way of treating wastewater and runoff on-site rather than using conventional stormwater drains and pipes to transport it to a treatment facility further downstream. A good example of an existing constructed wetland is that of Sidwell Friends Middle School in Washington, D.C. Instead of a water-intensive lawn, Sidwell opted for putting a wetland in one of its main courtyards, which then became part of a greater water-management system complete with green roof areas and garden space. One of the biggest challenges hindering the use of constructed wetlands is the aesthetic notion that they are not beautiful whereas traditional lawn landscapes are. Behind one of the residence halls, we identified an open area that would be an ideal site for a constructed wetland given its sloped topography and potential for enhancing the space for recreation. Inspired by other projects such as the one at Sidwell, we outlined a basic constructed wetland for this part including but not limited to the following: - enhanced beauty and natural aesthetic - natural treatment of stormwater runoff - educational value, especially given that this area is a highly visible part of campus
Above: A birds eye view of a potential version of the large wetland retainers. Water flows through these until it reaches a large community pond where final filtering plants are located. Below: Here is a constructed model of the wetland
Georgia Tech
University of Virginia UVA is a large public school that made a huge shift toward sustainability in the 1990s with its Strategic Plan for Stormwater. As outlined in this document, a lot of water was originally wasted from rainfall, which was treated and directed as waste, but in accordance with the new plan, much of this water is now reused. One of UVA’s major landscape projects is the Dell, an 11-acre area with a stormwater pond and a forebay system. It is a popular path for those walking through campus. As one of the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s (LAF) case studies, the Dell has a long list of benefits, including major reductions in sediment and nutrient loading downstream, and increased habitat and foraging area for wildlife. Exact numbers and more benefits can be found online under the “Research” section of the LAF website: www.lafoundation.org.
University of North Carolina
Stanford
Vs. LEED & SITES: Using Ranking Systems to Promote Sustainability
Sustainability of Public vs. Private Schools Each school values certain aspects of its landscape differently, making it hard to categorize them in a meaningful manner. Aside from the “small” versus “large” school distinction, we wondered if distinguishing between public and private schools might result in notable differences.
Many college campus are proponents of the US Green Money certainly factors into how much a school can invest in its landscape, and private schools are often more well funded than their public
are focused on building performance, often failing to acknowledge the importance of the landscape in which buildings are integrated.
counterparts. There are exceptions to the rule of course: UVA, for
As a means of addressing this missing landscape
example, is a public university that has done
University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden created the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) to better assess the landscape performance of project sites both with and without buildings. Founded in 2005, there are now 162 projects projects registered under SITES, with only 5 of them being located on college campuses, none among the schools featured in this magazine. As to why there are so few institutional SITES projects,
a lot more than many private schools, largely in part because it highly values its landscape. A beautiful campus environment has a and so most schools who can afford to spend more money on their landscape do (e-mail from Hough, 4/2/14). Public schools must deal with more levels of
said the process of getting a project SITES-certified is complicated.
bureaucracy due to the public source of their funding. At a private
difficulty of making SITES more popular among schools: “SITES is still a question mark. It is a big financial commitment to make for what is still uncertain value.” However the SITES effort is not without positive benefits; Hough went on to say, “Regardless of whether schools invest in getting SITES certification for projects, the wealth of research that has been produced is a huge resource for the profession” (email, 4/2/14).
school like Duke “the decision making when it comes to landscape is fairly concentrated...it becomes easier to provide consistent oversight to everything” whereas at a public school, such decisions are often “dictated by legislation” (Hough), which may delay progress in landscape sustainability.
Small Schools - Big Steps Towards Sustainability We define “small schools” as those having less
(a “grassroots” approach of sorts), a more visible policies, and fewer capital projects in favor of more small scale initiatives such as edible gardens.
Oberlin College
Oberlin College has declared a strong commitment to sustainable design and practice. In 2006 the school announced that all new buildings must be LEED Wastewater Treatment Plant, most progressive building, the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies (AJLC). The AJLC is one of the first super sustainable buildings to be built
Oberlin College’s Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Enviormental Studies.
College of the Atlantic College of the Atlantic has made some
2005, it was the first school to have a zerowaste graduation. In 2007, COA became carbon neutral. The campus also boasts ultra-sustainable student-housing, featuring pellet-heating, composting toilets
The Evergreen State College culture has been ingrained with sustainable projects sets it apart from other campuses. productive organic farm. The farm is also the sight of the Sustainable Agriculture Lab which is a LEED Silver building, and represents the
Dickinson College With the aid of outstanding student
Students collect grease from local restaurants to use as biofuel for the campus' vehicles, and all new buildings plants on campus are native species, and there are a number of areas that are
is dealt with in natural rain gardens and successful farm that provides studentgrown produce to all campus cafeterias.
OVERVIEW OF COMMON PROJECT TYPES Water is always a huge issue for college campuses. There several types of projects that become more common with the issue of sustainability, many of them helping reduce stormwater runoff and thereby pollution and degradation of the environment. When two or more of these projects are combined on a site, the system of stormwater management improves significantly. Here are brief descriptions of a few of those projects:
Cisterns
Cisterns are water storage tanks, typically underground, that capture rainwater directed from roofs and other sources of runoff. This stored water can then be used for irrigation and/or toilets GA Tech self-reports itself as having the largest cistern on a college campus in the US: a 1.4 million gal capacity cistern in the Clough Commons.
Green Roofs
Green roofs increase the amount of permeable green space on otherwise impervious roof surfaces, helping to minimize stormwater runoff and reduce the urban heat island effect. A types of plants grown on a green roof can range anywhere from plain grasses to edible gardens where people can harvest food.
Gardens
Rain gardens and gardens that are used for growing edible plants can increase the amount of permeable green space on a site. This helps reduce surface runoff, and these gardens can also use recycled cistern water for their irrigation needs.
Reduction in Surface Parking Lots
While water may not always be an obvious issue that comes to mind for those visiting college campuses, parking is almost always a nuisance. However, the inconvenience of limited parking in single-level surface lots is compounded by these impervious lots’ terrible track record at increasing surface runoff. Many schools are gradually getting rid of these surface lots and opting for more space-efficient decks, some of which feature green roofs, like at Stanford and UNC. Below: Illustrations of a green roof and rainwater cistern
In Conclusion We hope that the research and organized manner in which we have brought together various pieces of information regarding sustainable campus landscapes will provide a foundation for future and perhaps provide an impetus for more sustainable initiatives on other campuses. In terms of our own personal learning, here are our major takeaways: - Water is huge issue for college campuses. Implementing projects and practices that help reduce surface runoff by making use of recycled greywater and captured rainfall not only save universities money but facilitate ecosystem health. - Sustainability and beauty are not exclusive. While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, constructed that have an aesthetically pleasing form but typically poor ecological function. - Rating systems such as LEED and SITES are useful tools but not perfect solutions to ensuring sustainability. The wealth of research that has come out of these systems is an incredible resource for professionals that are working to design sustainable landscapes, but ultimately LEED and SITES are a means of promoting a more sustainable culture. - Campus sustainability succeeds the most when there is a school-wide culture or policy that goes beyond the sustainability of individual building and landscape projects. There is a lot of change going on in the realm of campus landscape sustainability. Taking these conclusions into consideration, the direction of change is clearly toward a healthier and greener college campus. In these spaces many of our brightest minds may begin to appreciate a culture of sustainability and become the leaders who will help us build a healthier and greener world.
Sustainable Universities
Special thanks to: Mary Hughes, Jill Coleman, Anne Boykin-Smith, and Cathy Blake who are doing incredible work in landscape sustainability at their universities. Mark Hough whose job it is to ensure Duke is the beautiful and sustainable home we have known it to be during our time here, and without whose help and guidance this project would not have gone far. And Sally Schauman, our incredible professor and mentor, who inspired us to pursue this project in the first place and provided us with the intellectual means and ambition to do so.
About the AuthoRs
Since Minshu and Ian took the class “Urban Environmental Design� with Sally Schauman, they have been inspired to learn more about sustainable landscapes and architecture.
design. Minshu plans on attending graduate school for landscape architecture.
References Dober, R. P. (1992). Campus design. John Wiley & Sons Incorporated. Duke University. Duke’s Landscape. Office of the University Architect. http://architect.duke. edu/landscape/index.html Gregory, J., King, D., & Lanciani, J. (2013, October). A Comprehensive Campus-wide Water Management Plan. Lecture conducted from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA. Hough, M. (2010, May). Graduating to Green. Landscape Architecture Magazine, 100(5), 66-77. Hough, M. (2013, April). Creating Sustainable College Landscapes. College Planning & Management, 40-46. Landscape Architecture Foundation. The Dell at the University of Virginia. http://www. lafoundation.org/research/landscape-performance-series/case-studies/case-study/180/ Meyer, E. K. (2008). Sustaining beauty. The performance of appearance: A manifesto in three parts. Journal of landscape Architecture, 3(1), 6-23. Stanford University. Stanford Planning Office. (1989, March). Landscape Design Guidelines. Stanford University. Landscape & Grounds. Sustainable Stanford. http://sustainablestanford. stanford.edu/landscape_and_grounds University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sustainable Initiatives and Results at UNC Chapel Hill. UNC Sustainability Office. http://www.sustainability.unc.edu/Initiatives