Cornerstone celebrates Gold status in LEED certification

The CC Bluegrass Ensemble provided background music for the celebration of receiving Gold status in LEED certification.

On April 26 the Cornerstone Arts Center hosted a celebration in honor of receiving LEED gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, was created in 1994 to be a comprehensive measurement tool for green building in the United States, taking into account energy efficiency, water use, greenhouse gas emissions, indoor air quality and other factors. LEED certification now represents the industry standard for sustainable design and construction practices.   

Cornerstone is the second Colorado College building to be awarded LEED status; Tutt Science received LEED silver certification after its completion in 2003.  The Cornerstone project, which took more than 15 years to execute, was originally budgeted for $25 million. It began to hit major setbacks when bids for the completion of the building came in at $33.4 million. Because of this, a number of design features were eliminated from the plan including the extra cost of striving for LEED certification. When CC students learned of this, however, they “had something to say,” President Dick Celeste said with a chuckle. 

After much pressure from the student body the project committee was able to revise the estimates for sustainable design and construction practices to less than a third of their original expected price, prompting the board of trustees to restore their commitment to meeting LEED standards at the highest level possible. 

Throughout the project, student leaders played a key role in maintaining the commitments to sustainability. The final design and construction process used a number of sustainable practices. Most notably, Cornerstone was constructed using entirely low or no VOC building materials and Mortenson Construction recycled 70 percent of its construction waste.  The building uses 17.5 percent less energy than the average building of its size as well as 30 percent less water. The permeable parking lot allows rainfall to filter into the ground rather than running into gutters.

As the celebration kicked off on Monday, the Cornerstone main space filled with well dressed community members and the occasional student.  In honor of the event, all of the food was green both environmentally and in color. Even the drinks were green: leftover melon agua fresca from lunchtime at Rastall.   

A video montage, created by sustainability intern Zoe Isabella, was looping in the screening room. It was a sampling of the many art installations that have been put on recently, including performance pieces and shots of a woman in a black dress with a conical straw hat. 

The CC Bluegrass Ensemble provided background music for the event. At a pause in the music Clay Benson, chair-elect of the Colorado chapter of the USGBC, took to the podium and presented a large round etched-glass plaque to President Dick Celeste. The plaque was engraved with the gold LEED status awarded to the Cornerstone Arts Center around the triple oak leaf emblem of the USGBC. 

After posing for a photograph with the plaque, President Celeste addressed the gathering, first thanking all the people in attendance who had made the Cornerstone vision a reality. A number of key planners of the project were in attendance, including those from Mortenson Construction which sponsored the celebration. City Councilmember Jan Martin, a supporter of the project, was also in attendance.

The President emphasized his belief that the LEED award was indicative of the desire of the entire CC community to protect natural resources and preserve the environment.  It is not a coincidence that The Princeton Review ranked CC among the top 15 eco-friendly colleges in the country last week, he said, and the college is serious about sustainability. 

Said Celeste, “To achieve LEED gold on a multi-use performance space of this complexity and imaginatve design is an extraordinary accomplishment.”