Thanks to an earth-friendly design, Mississippi State’s landscape architecture building uses 40 to 70 percent less energy than other campus buildings.
The facility, which is comprised of three linear buildings, runs primarily on solar power. Wide overhangs above windows block the summer sun for cooler temperatures, but allow the winter sun to radiate onto the floors, which in turn provides natural heat.
Windows are specially designed to allow natural lighting and air conditioning. Tall windows allow natural light into the facility to save on lighting costs. All windows are equipped with screens and can be opened to promote airflow from outside to save money on air conditioning expenses.
Reflective roofing materials and polystyrene insulation also aid in preventing heat from raising energy costs.
Co-directors of the facility Pete Melby, a landscape architect, and Tom Cathcart, a biological engineer, have worked together with other professors and the Center for Sustainable Design to integrate nature and energy efficiency with the classroom environment. After four years of work, the building was completed in January 2002.
Mississippi State was very supportive of the facility’s planning, Melby said.
“The university and the state building commission were great. They didn’t know how to do a sustainable building so they said, ‘You figure it out. You get this particular design firm and they’ll build what you come up with,” Melby said.
Doug Dale Associates of Jackson worked with Cathcart and Melby on the facility design.
“We wanted a place that looked Southern, meaning porches and lots of light. They did a really nice job. We wanted it to blend in with the forestry building and the sorority houses and we also wanted it to work with nature and the climate,” Cathcart said.
Cliff Jones, a senior landscape architecture and landscape contracting double major, said: “It’s peaceful and relaxing while I’m doing my design work. I think more buildings should be built this way. It saves tax dollars that could be spent on more places and landscaping for the university.”
The building cost was estimated to be $300,000 more than a standard building of the same size. However, Cathcart said that the extra money would pay for itself.
“Initially, the cost might be a little more, especially if you use ground source heating and cooling, a solar hot water heater and solar panels for production of electricity. However, we have proven that [the university] can save $30,000 a year on energy costs, so in 10 years, the extra costs are paid for,” Cathcart said.
The university could save more than $1.5 million on energy over a 50-year period for the landscape architecture building alone, Melby said.
Melby also said that he believes more buildings will be built with the same sustainable design in the future.
“I think the economics are so overwhelming that to do it any other way would not be intelligent,” Melby said.