Buildings

Building Design and Construction

Gordon remains committed to keeping buildings energy-efficient, sustainably thoughtful and up-to-date. Some of Gordon’s existing buildings were recommissioned with new energy-management systems (EMS) over the last few years, including:

Buildings	Date	Electric Savings	Natural Gas Savings

Bennett Athletic Center	2005	34,900kwh	6,000therms
Lane Student Center	2007	46,153kwh	6,700 therms
Jenks Learning and Resource Center	2007	17,500kwh	3,500 therms
Barrington Center for the Arts	2007	14,300kwh	19,500 therms
Phillips Music Buildings	2013	38,000kwh	4,698 therms

The new EMS systems will save 20% on heating costs and 5% on electricity costs in these buildings.

Gordon has made many changes to its buildings over the years to make things more sustainable, including these:

Chase Hall was constructed for 166 students and three classrooms on the original site of Sheppard Hall, which covered 18,000 sq. ft. and housed 90 students. Increases in energy efficiency have enabled Chase to use approximately the same amount of energy as the original building.
The Ken Olsen Science Center has low flow fume hoods, energy-efficient boilers, variable speed drives, energy-efficient lighting systems, an advanced energy management system, a light-colored roof to reduce heat island effect, and high-value roof insulation. The building skin is tight for low air infiltration and window shades reduce summer solar heat gain. Gordon decided not to pursue LEED® certification, but to instead use some of the savings to increase the greenness of the building.

Green Building

(Elements of green building implementation as reflected in all construction and renovation policy)

Elements of green building implementation Gordon uses in all construction and renovation include natural ventilation, full day lighting and building efficiency (less than 35% for circulation).