Housing classrooms, a library and auditorium, in addition to a two-story winter garden, the ESC will be a monumental milestone not only for college science buildings, but for the entire profession of green architecture. The building structure contains photovoltaic cells which will provide for electricity, while other solar-controlled heating systems will borrow stored summer sun to provide winter heat. Characteristic of sustainable architecture, the building will be naturally lit and ventilated. We're talking about the interest ofthings in terms of wholistic design. Sustainable architecture also becomes more valuable as time passes in that the energy saved in ecologically-sound structures will save money in the long run.
Colleges supposedly educate for the long run, but keep books for the short run.
During the course of the four-year project, Orr has acted as the chief liaison between the College and the design team, personally selecting who would work with the ESC's architect, William McDonough. Excited buzz of the Lewis Center has spread far beyond the realms of the Mid-West and into hundreds of journals on sustainable architecture and ecological design throughout the country. Orr named Popular Science as one of his recent interviews and mentioned that professors and professionals from Pittsburgh to India to Japan have come to visit the site throughout the course of construction. More than 400 other buildings were considered. By and large, we can be proud of it.