DURHAM, N.C. – Duke Environment Hall, the 70,000-square-foot new home of 91’s Nicholas School of the Environment, will open April 10.

Public tours will be offered at 3:30 Saturday, April 12, as part of a free reception following the 2014 Duke LEAF Award presentation ceremony.

The five-story, $40 million building, located on Circuit Drive on Duke’s West Campus, incorporates start-of-the-art green features and technologies inside and out, and has been designed to meet or exceed the criteria for the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Platinum certification, the highest level of sustainability.

It houses five classrooms, a 105-seat auditorium, 45 private offices, 72 open office spaces, a 32-seat computer lab, an environmental art gallery and outdoor courtyard, as well as conference rooms, shared workrooms and common areas.

“The new Environment Hall will allow the Nicholas School of the Environment to lead a fully unified, physically integrated, life at last,” said Duke President Richard H. Brodhead.  “We look forward to the innovative teaching, path-breaking scholarship, and thoughtful policy solutions that will arise from the collaborative work of our Nicholas faculty and students, facilitated by this important new building at Duke.” 

“Environment Hall provides the Nicholas School with an opportunity to further enhance its world-class research, teaching and policy engagement in the environment and to integrate them across the school and with other schools and institutes at Duke. In doing so it represents both a major accomplishment for Dean Chameides and an enormous strategic opportunity for his successor,” said Provost Peter Lange.

Brodhead and Lange will join Nicholas School Dean William Chameides and members of the Duke community at the April 10 dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony, which will be at 4 p.m. outside the new hall.

“As a LEED Platinum building, Duke Environmental Hall demonstrates Duke’s commitment to environmental leadership through research, education and practice,” said Chameides. “It serves not only as a functional – and beautiful – showcase of sustainable design, but as a living laboratory where faculty, staff and students can put the latest technologies and theories to the test.”

Among the new building’s green features are:

  • Photovoltaic rooftop panels produce 45 kilowatts of electricity – enough to provide roughly 9 percent of the building’s total energy needs;
  • Solar thermal panels to provide domestic hot water;
  • Energy-efficient chilled beam heating and cooling in offices and work areas;
  • An interior, south-facing thermal corridor, with expanded thermal comfort criteria of plus or minus 6 91s, that reduces energy use by providing a natural layer of insulation between office space and the exterior;
  • A green roof planted with a variety of water-wise edible plants, irrigated with recycled rainwater;
  • Exterior architectural details that shield windows from hot sunlight while allowing in maximum natural light;
  • An automated monitoring system that continuously senses and communicates indoor and outdoor environmental conditions, as well as indoor energy use, allowing building users to make near-real-time adjustments to reduce their energy consumption;
  • Insulated, double-paned windows, many of which open automatically to allow in natural ventilation when outdoor temperatures and humidity levels are favorable;
  • 100 percent Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood in the building’s interior;
  • Two separate water-recycling systems – one for greywater, one for rainwater – to reduce runoff and provide water for toilets and irrigation;
  • An air-to-air energy recovery air handling unit with an enthalpy wheel, to help dehumidify the building and reduce the amount of energy needed to heat or cool it;
  • Recycling of more than 95 percent of all construction waste;
  • A striking stone sculpture in front of the building entitled “In Good Time” by renowned stone mason and artist Thea Alvin.

Duke Environment Hall’s landscape and site design meets the guidelines of the Sustainable Sites Initiative, a national sustainability effort similar to the LEED rating system.

An edible orchard and plantings of drought-tolerant grasses and native shade trees, including longleaf pines and blight-resistant American chestnuts, will reduce water use and runoff and provide habitat for wildlife. They will be irrigated with recycled stormwater collected from the new building’s roof and site paving.

The building itself is located on the site of a former parking lot, to reduce the loss of permeable green space.

In addition to serving as a showcase for sustainable design, the new building helps accommodate the Nicholas School’s rapid growth, Chameides said. Since 2007, matriculation into the school’s two-year Master of Environmental Science and Master of Forestry programs has risen by more than 50 percent. Undergraduate and PhD student populations have also grown, as have the number of courses, 91 concentrations and certificate programs offered.

“Thanks to the long-term vision and commitment of Duke’s leaders, we can now bring together all elements of our Durham-based programs under one roof,” Chameides said.

Duke Environmental Hall is attached by a walkway to the ‘A’ Wing of the Levine Science Research Center (LSRC), which will house the Nicholas School’s earth and ocean science offices and wet labs following renovations this summer. Currently, these facilities are located across campus in the Old Chemistry building. Renovations to LSRC are expected to be completed in August.

Groundbreaking for Duke Environment Hall took place on April 20, 2012. Payette, a Boston-based architecture firm, designed the building. Duke Facilities Management managed and oversaw its construction.