West Center Will Be Green in Design

After encouraging recycling efforts across the campus for years, Winthrop officials are committed to take the next step.

Walter Hardin, Winthrop’s associate vice president of facilities management, said the university will seek at least a silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating on the new Lois Rhame West Health, Physical Education and Wellness Center.

“This is the wave of the future, and universities are leading the way in this charge,” Hardin said. The LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary national standard by the U.S. Green Building Council to develop high-performance, sustainable buildings.

Stephanie Burton, senior associate architect of The FWA Group of Charlotte, N.C., said a conscious effort was made by Winthrop administrators and the design team to create an energy-efficient building. The West Center is expected to use half the energy normally projected under the current code requirements.

One of the main energy savers for the building is a system to integrate daylighting with lighting controls. “The building is oriented on a north-south axis which allows us to maximize the use of daylight while controlling the sun to minimize unwelcome heat gain in the summer,” Burton said. “Daylight sensors allow us to minimize the use of electric lighting during the day.”

Another energy saver is the pool filtration system, which will greatly reduce water consumption. The system will use ultraviolet rays to destroy chloramines, the gases from chlorine that make your eyes burn, and kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses. The cleaned water will then recirculate back into the pool, resulting in a water use reduction of 196,000 gallons of water per year over a traditional pool system.

The building also will have low-flow shower heads, infrared sensors for sinks and waterless urinals. Overall the building will use 35 percent less water than normally projected.

Visitors to the building will be able to use a touch-screen kiosk in the center’s lounge to learn about the building’s sustainable design features.

Burton said the LEED rating system promotes a holistic approach to design. “All too often buildings are designed with only the construction cost in mind which is nearsighted, because construction cost is just a small portion of the building cost over the lifetime of the building,” she added. “As architects and building owners, we have a responsibility to design sustainable facilities since we are major contributors to energy consumption.”

Typically, buildings consume 30 percent of all the energy in this country and 60 percent of all electricity.
 

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