The GSB is regarded as second-to-none in the quality of its faculty, students, research and academic offerings and requires a facility that embodies this quality.
The new facilities demonstrate that smart building design can dramatically reduce environmental impact and lifetime cost. The new campus will address electricity consumption, carbon footprint, water consumption and waste water production.
Energy consumption is dramatically reduced through a number of design features. The combination of natural lighting and window coatings reduces both the electrical load of the lighting and the air-conditioning load.
Building massing, glazing head height the use of overhangs that provide shade in the summer but sun in the winter and open floor plans also contribute significantly to reducing the energy required for heating, cooling, and ventilation. And 355kW of rooftop photovoltaic arrays generate over 500,000kWh of electricity annually 12.5 of the campus electricity needs.
Water use has also been carefully considered in the campus design, both inside and outside the buildings. Aggressive water conservation strategies include the use of ultra-low-flow plumbing fixtures, utilising reclaimed water for toilet flushing, and harvesting rainwater combined with campus-supplied non-potable lake water for irrigation. Potable water use will be reduced by up to 90.
The campus new design preserves the existing mature tree canopy. More than 50 trees along site perimeter are maintained, and more than 60 additional trees have been temporarily relocated during construction.