Campus Green Builder

Planning for the College of Menominee Library began in 2007. The phase I of the project completed in late 2008. The following phases will address the basement and the upper levels of the building and will take place over the next few years. The institution has taken its commitment to sustainability seriously in designing this new library building. This “flagship” building is built to the equivalent of a U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED^® Silver rating and is designed to be 29% more efficient than Wisconsin’s Uniform Building Code minimum standards.

Following are a few salient green features of this new LEED^® Silver certifiable building that elucidate the strategic understanding of the functionality and usability of the spaces while integrating sustainability in all possible aspect of the built environment:

• Earth-friendly features include 36 geothermal wells that heat and cool the main and upper floors of the building, eliminating the need for equipment room and allowing for construction of landscaped green spaces over the well locations.
• Structural insulating roof panels are installed to minimize the heating and cooling load.
• Heat recovery ventilation system is also installed in the building for energy efficiency. And also, efficient heating and cooling systems were installed with thermal controls.
• Locally produced building materials, including white pine paneling from the Menominee Indian Tribe’s sustainably managed forests, were used at many places throughout the project.
• The building also has low volatile organic compounds (an indoor air contaminant found in various building materials).
• Since one of the primary functions of this building is to preserve Menominee traditions, literatures and artifact, the document preservation rooms in the building have separate humidity controls and separate rooms for storage and reading spaces.
• Also to maximize the usability of all the spaces, the project team has designed a fully functional basement. This would also optimize the building footprint and attribute function to all its occupied land area. Lightning and windows in the basement are designed in a manner that will make this space usable for occupancy.
• Built with utmost respect for the environment and the existing fauna and flora, during the site preparation the project team took into considerations various site ecology and other environmental features of the landscape.
• Most of the outdoor spaces are paved with pervious surfaces to reduce water runoff and increase infiltration.
• Landscape features also include a bioswale stormwater retention area featuring native plants as well as a public plaza area and a campus green.
• The library also provides meeting space in the lobby with a coffee shop area and outdoor plaza for its student and staff to convene addressing the equally important issues of social and community sustainability.
• Over 60 sizable pine trees were saved and moved from the building site to other locations on campus as part of the project, and a local “Wild Ones” chapter moved native wildflowers and low maintenance plants that would also have fallen victim to the construction.
• New walking trail improvements are planned with lots of potential “hands-on” opportunities for native plantings to follow.
• The new construction also makes great use of natural light through the orientation and design of the indoor spaces.
• Occupancy sensors are also installed throughout the building to save energy while spaces are not in use.
• Adhering to the overall sustainable operations and maintenance protocols of the facility, green housekeeping products and practices employed throughout the building.