July 11, 2007

Legacy Center applauded by nationally-recognized architects and educators

The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center gained national recognition at the recent Society of Building Science Educators Annual Retreat in Seattle, Washington.  Members of the Legacy Center building team Mike Utzinger (UW – Milwaukee), Joel Krueger (The Kubala Washatko Architects) and Steve Swenson (ALF Ecologist) presented at the gathering.  Annual Retreat participants are university educators and practitioners in architecture and related disciplines who support excellence in the teaching of environmental science and building technologies. 

The meeting included more than fifty architects and educators from around the country. It was held at Islandwood Nature Center on Bainbridge Island near Seattle.  Islandwood is a gold certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building.

Joel, Steve and Mike presented on the design process, building methods and materials, and systems technologies used in the Legacy Center.  Participant response was extremely enthusiastic.  The group discussion that followed recognized ALF’s unprecedented accomplishment: creating a building that strives to be “net-zero” (creating as much energy as is used) combined with having monitoring systems in place that will track energy use and building performance over time.  The SBSE leadership expressed excitement at the prospect of holding a future retreat at the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center.  

SBSE’s goal is to influence better building practices by reducing the walls that occur within the architectural and engineering communities. As members state on their website, “Since buildings are a natural mix of disciplines, professions, and physical processes, the greatest promise in providing better buildings may be to create a cross-disciplinary appreciation of the fundamentals that make buildings work. We attempt this in our teaching both on campus and to professionals, and in targeting our research results to both architectural and engineering audiences.”

To learn more about SBSE, click here.