This plaque, located inside the Minskoff Pavilion, denotes the building’s status as LEED Gold.
The Edward J. Minskoff Pavilion opened its doors on the banks of the Red Cedar in 2019 and quickly became Spartans’ new home for business. The 104,000-square-foot building is cutting-edge in many ways — inherently designed to be 100% dedicated to teamwork and collaboration — and now holds the credentials to be considered a “green” building for its sustainability and energy efficient design.
The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design has awarded the Broad College of Business’s Minskoff Pavilion LEED Gold certification. The certification status, with certified, silver, gold and platinum as its four levels, is based on design and construction features relating to sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.
“This certification is a testament to our focus on issues of sustainability, efficiency, innovation and environmental impact,” Sanjay Gupta, Eli and Edythe L. Broad Dean, said. “I believe this recognition underscores again the manner in which this entirely donor-funded project was handled from start to finish, which also led to its completion ahead of schedule and under budget.”
With this distinction, the Minskoff Pavilion becomes the fifth building at Michigan State University to achieve LEED Gold certification and the first academic building to do so.
The Minskoff Pavilion incorporates specific features, such as water-efficient landscaping, to be sustainable.
The Minskoff Pavilion incorporates specific outdoor features such as water-efficient landscaping, stormwater quantity and quality control, and bicycle racks and a changing area with shower for occupants using alternative transportation. Inside the stunning building, features include the use of recycled materials, low-flow water measures in bathrooms, enhanced mechanical systems commissioning, lighting occupancy sensors, energy-efficient and LED fluorescent lighting fixtures and low-emission furnishings.
“From the outset we understood that it was important to our students, alumni and college faculty and staff that we build a Gold-status facility,” John Wagner, professor of management and Broad College director of building and facilities, said. “The way the building conserves resources as it heats and cools, the way it uses daylight to reduce dependence on artificial lighting — which itself is provided by energy-efficient LED fixtures — and the way it conditions water runoff through holding ponds and green spaces were all intentionally designed into the Minskoff Pavilion to achieve the objective of Gold certification.
“Even as the space was being built, extra effort was directed toward using local building products and recycling demolition and construction waste,” Wagner continued. “The team that designed and built the Minskoff Pavilion worked hard to make it a LEED Gold facility.”
The building conserves resources, like using daylight to reduce dependence on artificial lighting.
Like all great projects, the Minskoff Pavilion was made possible only with exceptional teamwork. In recognition of the project’s leadership, MSU also received the 2020 Silver Award from the Construction Owners Association of America, officially presented at the COAA Fall Virtual Leadership Conference on Nov. 12-13.
“This award acknowledges the fine work of the owner, Michigan State University, as project leaders and partners,” Gupta said. “It also speaks to the accomplishments of the design and construction team members. In particular, I want to acknowledge the efforts of Dan Bollman and the entire MSU IPF team, as well as LMN Architects and Fishbeck (our architects/designers) and Clark Construction (our construction managers).”
Tony Rhodes, IPF project manager, noted how Dean Gupta directed the team early on that LEED Gold certification was a goal for the project. “Receiving this direction so early in the design process allowed the partners to collaborate with each other and develop key LEED credits to achieve,” he said. “These were credits that would maximize the performance of building, not just achieve LEED Gold.”
For Spartans, green is more than a color. It’s who we are. With the Minskoff Pavilion’s new status as a LEED Gold–certified building, our shade of green is deepened and we can say we’re truly making progress for a better tomorrow.
