Macalester College Receives LEED Platinum Certification for Markim Hall
First college or university facility in state to achieve this status
St. Paul, MN (Vocus) September 23, 2009
Markim Hall, home of the Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College, has received LEED Platinum certification from the US Green Building Council. Markim Hall is the first higher education facility in Minnesota to earn LEED Platinum certification. Platinum is the highest level of certification.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification independently verifies that a building project meets the highest green building and performance measures.
"Achieving LEED Platinum status underscores Macalester's commitment to sustainability," said Macalester President Brian Rosenberg. "Markim Hall is a place where form and function come together as we prepare students to be global citizens, and we're honored to have achieved LEED Platinum certification."
Established in 2005, the Institute for Global Citizenship is a campus-wide initiative to expand the college's distinctive tradition of engagement and academic excellence. The IGC promotes learning, scholarship, civic engagement, and global leadership locally, nationally, and internationally.
Rosenberg explains that Markim Hall was designed and constructed with sustainability in mind.
"From the very beginning, we wanted the building to express what it means to be a good global citizen," said Rosenberg. "The project team used integrated design to promote sustainability on and around the site, reduce energy and water use, improve indoor environmental quality, and use green building materials."
Markim Hall, which opened in July, will be officially dedicated following a campus-wide convocation on Thursday, October 1, 2009. The $7.5 million, 17,000 square foot facility includes IGC programs, faculty and staff offices, meeting rooms, and an atrium for campus events. An original bronze bust of former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan '61, a gift of the United Nations Foundation, is installed in the lobby. Generous donors funded the entire project.
Markim Hall's sustainable features include energy and water use, indoor air quality, materials used in construction and furnishings, native landscaping, innovative storm water management, and public education. Energy simulation models predict that Markim Hall will use about 80 percent less energy than a standard building in Macalester's climate. Macalester is also purchasing carbon offsets to cover all of Markim Hall's heating, cooling and electricity consumption.
"In every way, Markim Hall reflects Macalester's rich tradition of global leadership," said Rosenberg. "The programming inside the building is distinctive nationally in providing an institutional focal point for educating global citizens and leaders, while the building itself is a manifestation of the knowledge, attitudes, intellectual skills, values, and practical competencies students need to be effective and ethical agents of social change."
Bruner/Cott & Associates, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. was the architect and McGough Companies of St. Paul, Minn. constructed the building.
Markim Hall has won a Building of America Award and is scheduled to be featured in the upcoming Green Building of America-Midwest Green edition publication.
Macalester College (www. macalester. edu), founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,858 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism and civic engagement.
Contact: Barbara K. Laskin
(651) 696-6203
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