GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Secchia Center, headquarters for Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine, has been awarded LEED gold certification, one of the highest environmental designations available.
"The award is a real mark of distinction," said Marsha Rappley, dean of the college. "I think it's a natural outcome of trying to build the very best building we could. We're very excited to have this recognition, and it's a reflection of all the hard work that went into it."
Renae Hesselink, chairperson of the West Michigan chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council - the national organization that promotes sustainable building projects through its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program -presented Rappley with a plaque at an Earth Day event April 22 at the Secchia Center.
The gold certification, the second highest available, is in recognition of the many environmentally friendly features that went into the design and construction of the Secchia Center, which opened last fall in downtown Grand Rapids. The building's location in an urban setting, its highly efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems, use of building materials from within 500 miles and other green attributes helped it achieve gold certification.
While those sustainable features somewhat increased construction costs, the resulting energy savings will offset it in a little more than six years, said Shirine Boulos Anderson of Ellenzweig, the design architect for the facility.
MSU has a long tradition of environmentally friendly programs, she noted, and Grand Rapids often is called one of the greenest cities in the country because of its concentration of LEED-certified buildings.
"Grand Rapids is just this amazing community where there is high awareness of sustainability," Anderson said.
The Secchia Center's many environmentally friendly features include:
- Energy-saving measures that reduce utility costs 34 percent compared to if the facility had been built just to code;
- A heating system that includes radiant floor heat in the atrium and a heat wheel, which captures and recycles heat that would be otherwise wasted;
- The use photovoltaic glass to generate electricity for lighting in the rooftop conservatory;
- The building stores rainwater in tanks and uses it in a cooling tower to reduce city water usage.
Going for the gold required a great deal of commitment by everyone involved, including MSU, the designers and the builders, said Dan LaMore, senior vice president of the Christman Co., which managed the building's construction.
"It required a very rigid management process," LaMore said. "It's a very collaborative effort."
Dick Temple, an executive with URS Corp., the architect of record for the project, noted all four buildings in the new Michigan Street Development, which includes the Secchia Center, have achieved some level of LEED certification.
"It's consistent with the belief system of this community," Temple said, adding MSU "comes from a background that values the earth."
From its birth as a land-grant college, MSU has expanded its commitment to sustainability through its Office of Campus Sustainability and its "Be Spartan Green" campaign. The Secchia Center is MSU's second LEED gold certified building; the other is the MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Center on the East Lansing campus. The Chemistry Building in East Lansing and its Kellogg Biological Station dairy facility in Kalamazoo County were granted LEED silver.
Environmental stewardship applied at every step of the Secchia Center's design and construction, said Elizabeth Lawrence, the College of Human Medicine's assistant dean for capital and strategic planning.
"I think the greatest significance of the certification is that even the highest standards can be accomplished with extraordinary teamwork," she said. "Really, it's a pretty great capstone achievement for an already great facility."
In September 2010, the College of Human Medicine opened the Secchia Center, completing one of the largest medical school expansions in the country. The facility is entirely financed without public funding. Sources include $55 million in committed funding from Spectrum Health. Private donations cover remaining costs.
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