Campus News 2007-2008

Residence Halls at Pitzer College Receive Gold LEED® Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council

Claremont, Calif. (May 27, 2008)—Pitzer College has been awarded Gold LEED® certification by The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its three new residence halls. Pitzer is the first Claremont College to receive Gold LEED certification for its residence halls and is among the few colleges and universities in the nation to achieve this major milestone.

“Pitzer College is to be congratulated for achieving Gold LEED Certification. These facilities are ones that the community can be proud of,” USGBC President, CEO and Founding Chair Rick Fedrizzi said. “Pitzer College will be a showcase for high-performance, energy-efficient, healthy living and an inspiration for others.”

True to the College’s community style governance, Pitzer students, faculty, alumni and staff actively participated in the planning of this project and believe green building principles mirror the College’s goals and values of global sustainability. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED criteria guided the overall project design. Initially, the project’s goal was to achieve a Silver LEED certification. However, Gold LEED certification resulted as a result of the strong efforts on the part of the project team, support of the entire college community, and the leadership of President Laura Skandera Trombley.

The residence halls allow for both formal and informal learning and include new art studios, study rooms, a music practice room, a computer lab, wireless Internet access, learning communities with faculty in residence, amenities to encourage indoor-outdoor interactions, green buildings that teach about how to live sustainably, and outdoor gardens that serve as a living laboratory for learning.

“We are so pleased that our artfully and sustainably designed and built residence halls have earned Gold LEED certification by USGBC. Our success in achieving this rating belongs to the many members of our community who gave their time, expertise and passion to this project,” Pitzer College President Laura Skandera Trombley said.

Pitzer College is a nationally top ranked undergraduate liberal arts institution. A member of The Claremont Colleges, Pitzer offers a distinctive approach to a liberal arts education by linking intellectual inquiry with interdisciplinary studies, cultural immersion, social responsibility and community involvement.

About the U.S. Green Building Council: A nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since UGSBC’s founding in 1993, the Council has grown to more than 13,000 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED® green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry’s popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expos (www.greenbuildexpo.org) and a network of 72 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.

About LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a feature-oriented rating system that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria. The six major environmental categories of review include: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation and Design. Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category. LEED can be applied to all building types including new construction, commercial interiors, core & shell developments, existing buildings, homes, neighborhood developments, schools and retail facilities. LEED for healthcare is currently under development and is expected to be released in early 2008.