Kroon Hall

“Yale’s most sustainable building to date reflects the School’s mission and the intellectual passion of its faculty and students, “said Yale President Richard C. Levin. “It is an extraordinary design and we hope its energy saving concepts will be emulated widely and inspire others to advance green building even further.”

So... I have been researching the newest building in Yale University called Kroon Hall. It's this sustainable building that recycled all waste and materials used, used nontoxic materials, solar panels, natural lighting and heating, solar heating and the list goes on! "Designed by Hopkins Architects of Great Britain in partnership with Connecticut-based Centerbrook Architects and Planners, the new $33.5 million home for F&ES is expected to achieve a platinum rating in the green-building certification program, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design(LEED)" (Coppock). This building is truly inspiring! Everything about it is sustainable and is perfect for the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. 

One of the fascinating parts of Kroon Hall is that they created this water system for a pond in front of the building. What it does is collect the runoff from the building's roof that is then held in a settling tank that allows majority of the sediment to settle out. From that it is moved in a storage tanks and excess water that all turns into a pond. You know what else they can do with the pond besides from just enjoying the beauty of it? Once after the water is filtered and disinfected, it can be used for toilet flushing for the Kroon Hall building! How cool is that?! This building is one of a kind and should inspire other Universities and pretty much everyone to create sustainable building to help out the environment!

The building’s east-west orientation maximizes solar heat gain during the winter. A 100-kilowattrooftop array of photo voltaic panels provides 25 percent of the building’s electricity. 

                                                           

 The exposed concrete walls and ceilings provide thermal stability. It retains heat in winter and cooling in summer. 50% percent of the concrete mix is blast slag, which is a postindustrial recycled material. So in other words, instead of air being forced through overhead ducts, the energy-saving displacement ventilation system will move the warm and cool air through the air plenum and multiple diffusers to elevated floors. They also provided low-velocity fans in the basement for keeping the air circulating all throughout the building!

This building is very fascinating and I truly hope I get to visit it very soon. Since it is just around the corner! :)

Sites I visited:

http://environment.yale.edu/kroon/

http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=6571

www.yale.edu/environment/publications