The ground behind Andover Hall has been shaking off and on for months. A backhoe moves chunks of earth by the bucket load. Men and women in hard hats and jeans yell over the sounds of thundering machines and grinding metal.
One year ago, Rockefeller Hall was home to a community of HDS students, a refectory, and a few meeting rooms. Today, it is deep in the throes of a comprehensive, year-long renovation that will, when its doors open late summer 2008, make it one of the most energy-efficient buildings at Harvard.
Exposed wires decorate ceilings; layers of dust and grime adorn the floors. But the new building, and those doing the building, are full of promise—and for good reason. Since construction began last June, Ralph DeFlorio, director of operations at HDS, and Roy Lauridsen, facilities manager, have been at the forefront of coordinating the renovation efforts of Rockefeller. They conduct regular walk-throughs and perform tests on, for example, the building's new air ducts.
"It sounds trivial," says Lauridsen. "But 20 percent of the energy in a building is lost through ductwork leaks. If those ducts are leaking, we're not just losing air, we're losing energy."
From design concept to occupancy, the construction project requires a broad team. Numerous moving parts involve resources from the Divinity School as well as the general contractor, Shawmut Design and Construction, and the architectural firm, Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates, based out of Philadelphia. Add to that a host of subcontractors, engineers, and multiple groups within Harvard, including Harvard Real Estate Services and the Harvard Green Campus Initiative (HGCI), and there are anywhere from 60 to 80 people working on the project on a revolving basis.
"It's like an orchestra," says DeFlorio. "Everybody has a part to play, and they have to play it well."
The new Rockefeller will feature improved building systems, such as an Energy Recovery Wheel, and new lighting controls. A white roof will reduce cooling costs. A gear-driven elevator will be, according to Lauridsen, 20 to 40 percent more efficient than typical hydraulic elevators, such as the ones used in Andover and Divinity Halls.
More efficient building operations means lower utility bills. Even with a total budget of $18.5 million for the renovation—including a new green space outfitted with granite benches and a contemplative garden—HDS will see immediate financial savings.
"We will spend less on utilities next fiscal year than if we were running the old systems," says DeFlorio.
One of the most significant green initiatives at HDS will be its approach to conserving water. Aside from new features such as waterless urinals and ultra-low flow sinks in Rockefeller, a state-of-the-art watering system will look at weather conditions by satellite and provide details on how much water is in the ground, and then adjust the sprinklers to run based upon that data.
On my first tour inside Rockefeller, on February 7, Parviz Tabrizi, Shawmut's construction superintendent, explained that roughly 80 percent of the materials going into the new building are local; however, there are exceptions.
For example, the double-pane windows used to better insulate the building are from Germany, and the granite going into the development of the new labyrinth is from China. According to Lauridsen, there are only a couple of manufacturers that make this type of window, and the granite color is indigenous to a region in China.
The greening of HDS will be measured, in part, by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED addresses a building's potential damage to the ecology. It looks at occupant comfort, lighting, ergonomics, and fresh air. How much energy is the building using? How insulated it is? What systems are in place to ensure energy is being conserved and used efficiently? HDS looked at those same issues and found that, when examining the paybacks for those standards, it made sense to have a LEED building.
HDS hopes to achieve gold status from LEED. Behind platinum, gold is the second highest certificate awarded. Between 39 and 51 points are need to achieve gold status; currently, Rockefeller Hall is tracking at 42 points.
"We had said we didn't want to chase LEED points," said Lauridsen. "We didn't want to do anything that didn't make sense for the occupancy of the building."
Jesse Foote, program manager, green campus building services new construction at Harvard, recently told me that, in December 2007, Harvard passed a new set of guidelines that requires any new construction projects $5 million and above to strive for at least a LEED silver rating.
"The success of projects like Rockefeller made the University comfortable with adopting this set of guidelines," Foote said.
At a grassroots level, a group of HDS students and staff, called the Green Team, has formed to help meet the challenges HDS faces. "I decided to join the Green Team because I'm in one of the departments at the school where I can have a larger impact on more than just my own activities," explained Ben Rota, assistant director for computer operations in the Office of Information Technology and Media Services.
On March 31, Belva's Café in Divinity Hall launched a new line of compostable foodservice products, which uses a corn-based polylactic acid coating over normal paperboard. The initiative was spearheaded by second-year MDiv candidate Travis Stevens and the HDS Green Team, with help from Harvard University Dining Services.
How will the success of the Rockefeller renovation and new green space be judged? Answers are perhaps years away. Still, DeFlorio has an idea.
"For me, success will be when everyone is working in the building, and the dining area is packed and people are having a great meal. Outside, people are around the contemplative garden, and there are people sitting on the benches, while other people stroll through the green. When we reach that day, when all of those elements are happening, then I'd say we've done it."