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University of Scranton’s LEED Silver Loyola Science Center Uses Sustainable Design To Encourage Collaboration
Posted By Beth Buczynski On January 4, 2013 @ 3:00 pm In Architecture | No Comments
There’s no doubt that the look and feel of higher education is changing. Massive lecture halls, where students are merely a face in the crowd, and teachers are miles away, are finally going extinct. In their place are bright, open learning environments  that encourage interaction, discussion and creativity. To encourage interaction between scientific disciplines, the 200,000-square-foot Loyola Science Center incorporates a dynamic, modern design that includes visible glass-walled laboratories. Instead of only chairs and chalkboards, the center features ample informal learning spaces; classrooms that permit group activities and hands-on-learning; and teaching and research spaces that are flexible to accommodate changing future needs.
To help it earn LEED Silver certification, the building’s designers used local materials, energy-efficient lights and heating systems, a heat recycling system  that captures exhaust air using a heat exchange wheel, and efficient water fixtures. There is also a rooftop greenhouse for research, a vivarium, and a central atrium with a coffee shop.
“A drastic change in environment, the new facility redefines the concept of a learning space,” said George Gomez, Ph.D., associate professor of biology and neuroscience and Project Shepherd of the Loyola Science Center. “It is a structure that emphasizes human interactions as a critical part of education, a structure that unites the traditionally separate and disparate academic disciplines. This radical change in environment can bring forth new life.”
via World Architecture News 
Photographs by Barry Halkin Photography and Robert Benson Photography
Article printed from Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/university-of-scrantons-leed-silver-loyola-science-center-uses-sustainable-design-to-encourage-collaboration/
URLs in this post:
 University of Scranton: http://www.scranton.edu/
 EYP: http://eypaedesign.com/
 Loyola Science Center: http://eypaedesign.com/expertise/undergraduate-science/university-of-scranton
 LEED-certified: http://inhabitat.com/tag/LEED-certified/
 bright, open learning environments: http://inhabitat.com/university-of-waterloos-new-prismatic-engineering-building-is-a-daylight-factory/
 heat recycling system: http://inhabitat.com/tag/waste-heat/
 +University of Scranton: http://matrix.scranton.edu/academics/sciencecenter/index.shtml
 World Architecture News: http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=21650®ion=1
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