After being spread out among five buildings for the past few years, the faculty in the department of geology and geophysics now has a single building to call its own.
“This building is not just a home for us,” said Cari Johnson, an associate professor of geology and geophysics. “This building is the first time that we can all be together as a faculty to share ideas and interact about our labs and specimens. It really is the face of the department.”
The department’s new home, the Frederick Albert Sutton Building, is a 91,000-square foot, four-story building located in the College of Mines and Earth Sciences on 100 South. Marjorie Chan, a professor and chairwoman of the department, said it is the first “green” building on lower campus because it is the first to receive LEED certification. This unique designation is provided by an independent third party and is used to recognize the design, construction and operation of high performance energy-efficient buildings throughout the country.
The new building’s green emphasis is a result of incorporating a number of ideas directly from undergraduate students. William Johnson, an associate professor in the geology and geophysics department, said students submitted many suggestions to help the building become more environmentally friendly. Four of those suggestions were adopted in building the new structure.
These features include tubular skylights, on-site ground water recharge, real-time energy and watering monitoring and a green roof. The suggestion for each innovation came from undergraduate students taking a course offered by the department that focused on the impact humans have on the environment. By implementing the suggestions of students, the department was able to leave its unique footprint on the construction of the building while limiting the impact to the surrounding environment.
“This building really reflects our department,” Chan said. “We have tried to incorporate things that are unique to our faculty8212;things that really make it feel like our own.”
The building features a fossil fish wall, a rock wall constructed of discoveries made by the faculty and a lobby that is designed to look like a river bed joining two rivers. Many of the materials used in construction are all natural and donated from surrounding businesses which share strong ties to the department.
“We now have our own space that we can use to grow and become an overall better department,” Johnson said. “I think it can only help in attracting more top students and researchers.”
The building is now complete and the department is in the process of moving in. There will be an open house and grand opening ceremony hosted by the department on April 17. Courses will be held in the building beginning in the Fall 2009 semester.
Sean SullivanJoel Carlson, a student planning on going into Geology, organizes rock samples in the new Frederick Albert Sutton Building. The Geology department will call the new building home after being spared around campus for years.