Cyberinfrastructure building recognized as 'green' structure

The Cyberinfrastructure Building was recently certified gold for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design by the U.S. Green Building Council, a not-for-profit organization of builders and environmentalists.

According to a press release, this means the Cyberinfrastructure Building is the greenest building on IU’s campus to date.

“The concept was to build a totally innovative structure that celebrated a strong sense of community and interaction between all IU and UITS staff, visitors and the public alike, while being very efficient in space-saving techniques, and doing it in a way that not only respected the environment but capitalized on all the cutting-edge strategies of energy conservation and flexible climatic design and control,” University Architect Robert Richardson said.

According to the USBGC website, LEED certification is designed to provide third-party verification that a building was designed and built for energy efficiency.

Projects achieve LEED certification by earning points for meeting sustainability requirements in categories like efficient use of water, sustainable building materials and waste reduction.

The building received credit for environmental strategies such as using recycled materials for more than 25 percent of the building materials, installing rooftop solar panels and using water-efficient landscaping, according to the press release.

“The CIB points to the future of smart buildings at IU and beyond,” Brad Wheeler, IU vice president for Information Technology and CIO, said in a release. “The building’s efficient approach to space usage follows the best practices of leading Silicon Valley and Indiana firms, while modeling sustainability through power savings, daylight harvesting and other measures.”

— Tori Fater