Construction began last week on a new $66 million energy-efficient engineering and science facility for Binghamton University.
According to a press release, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell and State Sen. Thomas W. Libous, R-Binghamton secured funding for the building, which is expected to provide an additional $112 million for the area.
“Securing funding for structures like the state-of-the-art Engineering and Science Building at Binghamton University is a good, common sense investment,” Libous said. “But it’s what takes place in the structure that’s important — and that’s the educational value.”
“The students are the jewels that come out of the building,” he said.
The project, to be located in the University’s Innovative Technologies Complex (ITC), was designed by William Hall, a staff architect for Physical Facilities. It’s expected to house the department of mechanical engineering, the department of electrical and computer engineering and the Integrated Electronics Engineering Center. There is also expected to be a bridge connecting the new building with the Biotechnology Building.
Hall said the design will be beneficial to engineering students because it’s designed to save and track energy use in the building.
“I think the most significant thing [in this process] is to work with the property to come up with a building that will fit the needs of the students,” Hall said. “They’re going to be a part of the actual watching how the building performs.”
Hall said there would be computer kiosks located throughout the building, tracking what type of energy the facility was saving.
The building is designed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and, according to a press release from the University, incorporate passive solar energy for heating. Hall said the environment-friendly plans weren’t used just to be green, however.
“As the cost of energy goes up, it’s advantageous for us,” he said.
In the press release, BU President Lois B. DeFleur said that the project is one of the largest that the University has taken on. DeFleur said she thought the project would have a significant impact on students’ education.
Both Hall and Karen Fennie, a spokeswoman for Physical Facilities, said it wasn’t common for an in-house architect to design a project like this for the University.
“It’s a very large project for typically any university to design in-house,” Hall said.
Fennie said using an in-house plan helped speed up the process.
“We’re able to execute the project more quickly because we don’t have to go through a consultant selection process,” Fennie said. “It cuts down on the amount of time to design and the cost because it’s being done by a staff architect.”
Fennie said it normally takes up to 18 months to select a design.
The facility is expected to be finished by January 2011.