by ArchitectureWeek

Natural daylight, cooling and ventilating efficiencies, and low-impact material selections helped add up to a USGBC LEED Platinum certification for Building B of the new Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University (ASU). The first LEED Platinum building in Arizona joined the elite green ranks of fewer than 60 LEED Platinum-certified buildings worldwide.

Together with its slightly earlier LEED Gold certified neighbor, Building A, this award-winning biological research laboratory building designed by a team of Gould Evans and Lord, Aeck & Sargent, provides a bright new doublet of style and efficiency for the Pac-10 university campus.

And the resulting composition of transparencies and deflections, sheer glass expanses tempered, animated, warmed, and humanized by wood-clad, independently rotating louvers, is as beautiful in places as it is environmentally effective.   >>>

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SUBSCRIPTION SAMPLE Building B of the Arizona State University Biodesign Insititute earned a LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Photo: Mark Boisclair Photography Extra Large Image The operable louvers in the largely glass facade of the ASU Biodesign Institute add a degree of emotional warmth, as well as cooling shade. Photo: Mark Boisclair Photography Extra Large Image   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.