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In 2009, SUNY-ESF adopted a visionary plan for achieving carbon neutrality by 2015, well ahead of other institutions nationally.

The SUNY-ESF College of Environmental Science & Forestry Gateway Center transforms a barren parking lot into a striking symbol of environmental stewardship and climate action leadership.  This three-story campus center totals 54,000 gross square feet, providing a conference facility, café, bookstore, and admissions and outreach offices unified by a sweeping concourse that supports students, faculty, and public gatherings. Museum-quality exhibits of SUNY-ESF’s renowned Theodore Roosevelt Wildlife Collection stretch the length of the main concourse

In 2009, SUNY-ESF adopted a visionary plan for achieving carbon neutrality by 2015, well ahead of other institutions nationally. This plan prescribed a centrally located “gateway building” that would house a district energy plant capable of realizing significant carbon reductions and promoting energy independence. This award-winning design was a response to the client’s mandate to create an extraordinary green building, driving toward campus climate neutrality and modeling exemplary sustainability to foster teaching and research. The design resulted from a close collaboration between the design team and SUNY-ESF administrators, faculty and students.  Energy-plus performance and LEED Platinum certification were required by SUNY-ESF and the State University Construction Fund.  

The bioclimatic design overcomes west-facing exposure and a narrow site sloping nearly 30 feet east to west using passive solar design principles.  Angled walls, arranged as serial flaps or “flippers,” look movable but are actually fixed.  These deep serrations convert undesirable west-facing exposure into ideal south-facing daylight and views. The base of the building is an earth-tone “mesa” of recycled concrete block. Exterior walls are clad in interlocking aluminum shingles.  

In the main concourse, glue-laminated roof beams form diagonal ceiling coffers.  Expressive steel columns and diagonal wood braces appear as a “grove of trees,” a deliberate reference to SUNY-ESF’s roots as a forestry school. Eight species of Forest Stewardship Council certified wood and recycled porcelain tile floors give the interiors unusual richness and distinction.

The lower level combined heat and power (CHP) plant is designed to annually produce 60% of campus heating needs and 20% of its electricity requirements using natural gas cogeneration, biomass, photovoltaics, and solar thermal systems. New infrastructure enables the Gateway Center to supply heat and power to four adjacent campus buildings, thereby aiming to reduce campus carbon emissions by 50% and advance SUNY-ESF’s mission to achieve carbon neutrality by 2015.

 

The “energy-positive” Gateway Center serves as a pedagogical tool and community resource, supporting on-going teaching and research as well as public education.