WM Aims to Construct Eco Village

By Amber Lester Kennedy Saturday, December 10, 2011

The College of William and Mary hopes to rebuild the lodges, shown above, into an eco-village.

The college recently received the results of a feasibility study to explore whether the proposed eco-village could become reality. Anna Martin, vice president for administration, briefed the Board of Visitors Buildings and Grounds Committee on the study findings at its meeting on Friday morning.

The college first announced its intent to create an eco-village in April 2010. The proposal calls for the lodges’ seven living spaces and the Daily Grind to be transformed using the most cutting-edge technologies, construction materials and designs. Each lodge would incorporate different sustainable practices, providing opportunities to research their benefits.

The existing buildings, located behind the Sadler Center, were constructed in 1947. Martin said the most notable finding in the feasibility study was that it would be more beneficial to demolish, not renovate, the lodges. If the college decided to renovate the homes, it would lose seven beds in student housing.

The university envisions each house will incorporate different sustainability practices; one home might be solar-powered, while another might use wind power. Martin said the site would include rain gardens and canopy trees, and there would be an effort to restore vegetation. She also said the university could orient the new buildings east to west, to take best advantage of daylight. If the university could achieve all of its sustainability goals, the eco-village could become the first campus facility to achieve a platinum LEED rating, she said.

An architectural rendering of a lodge by Moseley Architects showed a brick home with large windows and a large wrap-around porch. Dennis Taylor, co-chair of the college’s Committee on Sustainability, said each home would have automated heating and cooling, and every outlet (and possibly water source) will be monitored to track usage. “All of that information will be integrated into a system displayed on public kiosks around campus to show energy consumption,” he said, adding the data would be used for comparative studies.

The project is estimated to cost $5.6 million, and Martin said the money will have to come from fundraising and grants. In 2010, the Committee on Sustainability designated $10,000 from the student “green fee” fund to go toward the project. Although it will cost more, per bed, than the university’s other recent housing projects, Taylor said the long-term savings make it “favorable.”

At the same meeting, professor Sarah Stafford shared some of the ideas collected by the Eco Village Research and Teacher User Group. The group of professors, graduate and undergraduate students came up with potential research projects that could come out of the eco village.

The proposed research projects included renovating one of the homes to compare renovation against new construction; analysis of resident behavior; collecting documentation of life in the lodges, both in the past and the present; ecosystem studies, such as installing green roofs; and finally, community engagement through sustainability expos and field trips. Many of the projects would entail examining how one house performed against another one, depending on what the project hoped to measure.

Buildings and Grounds Committee Chair Janet Brashear said she thought the proposed project would be “good for the brand” of the college and have appeal to some donors who would like to give to a “more aspirational” cause.