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Westchester, CA |
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Mt. Rainier, MD |
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Monroe, MI |
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Overland, MO |
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Chapel Hill, NC |
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Philadelphia, PA |
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Pittsburgh, PA |
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Houston, TX |
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Seattle, WA |
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Milwaukee, WI |
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from the Fall 2006 Building Better Report
Dedicated to the Earth
 For the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), good stewardship of their corner of the environment is part of their larger social and economic justice mission. So when their Motherhouse began showing its age after 70 years of wear, the home's 250 Sisters set about the updates with an eye toward preserving the natural environment, creating a building and grounds that tread lightly on the earth.
Altering & Preserving Landscape for Water Quality
The Sisters preserved much of the landscaping during construction, including all of the trees on the 280 acre site, while also restoring portions of the campus grounds to wetlands and meadows which help hold and filter water. The creation of these natural sponges keeps and cleans water, preventing polluted runoff from flowing into the River Raisin where E. coli and pollution levels are already elevated.
The wetlands also collect greywater from the facility's sinks and showers, recycling it to be treated and re-used in the building's toilets instead of going into the sewer system. Recycling reduces the Sisters' water usage by 55 percent, diverting 7,000 gallons per day to wetlands and recycling 4,500 per day to flush toilets. (1) To further reduce stormwater runoff, the parking lots have been retrofitted with vegetated swales that break up the large impervious surface and create natural drainage systems.
Building Renovation
In addition to recycling wastewater, there are hosts of energy, resource, and water conservation features built into the project, which is currently awaiting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The renovation maximizes the use of natural daylight, uses low-flow shower spigots and uses environmentally sustainable products like fast-growing cork in the flooring.
It also employs an innovative geothermal heating and cooling system, as well as a heat recovery system to reclaim heat from ductwork exhaust. The geothermal system sends water deep into the ground where it taps into the earth's natural temperature instead of relying on other energy sources to heat and cool the building.
People Making the Difference
The Sisters, who studied and became experts in ecological design, were aided in their renovation endeavor by Philadelphia firm Susan Maxman & Partners, national leaders in ecological design and sustainability. Viridian Landscape Studio created the ecologically sound site plan with civil engineering input from the Mannik and Smith Group. The Christman Company managed construction, and the H.F. Lenz Company handled engineering and design, while the Middleton Corporation and Jackson & Sons Drilling Company were responsible for the geothermal drilling.
Footnotes:
- Hucal, Michelle Clark. "For the Sake of Heaven and Earth," Environmental Design and Construction Magazine. June 1, 2004.
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