Medical campus gets green award

The Amistad Street Building has received a gold “greenness” rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Among the “green” features is a 7,500-gallon tank that recycles storm water collected from the roof. Additional features include laboratory cabinetry made from wood produced in sustainable forests, a heat recovery system and energy-efficient bulbs and occupancy sensors that help cut electricity use. Recycling of renovation debris reduced construction waste by 70 percent.

The project, which provides laboratory space for the Interdepartmental Program in Vascular Biology and Therapeutics, the Yale Stem Cell Center and the Human and Translational Immunology Program, was built around the existing shell and core of the building.

“This project presented all the challenges one typically finds when striving to build sustainably in an existing building,” said Virginia Chapman, director of construction and renovation for the School of Medicine’s facilities office. “But we made it work—and work rather well.”