Nicholas School plans expansion

Duke’s Environmental Hall is pending board approval.
Duke’s Environmental Hall is pending board approval.

The Nicholas School of the Environment has re-launched plans for a facility meant to unite faculty and education, after a previous construction project did not come to fruition.

Duke’s Environmental Hall is a proposed addition to the Levine Science Research Center, incorporating the Nicholas School faculty, administration and classrooms in one area. The structure, connected to the LSRC via a walkway, will be a five-story glass and concrete building that is designed to meet or exceed the criteria for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certification, Nicholas School Dean Bill Chameides said in a written statement Nov. 10. This addition and the Nicholas School’s current location in the “A” wing of the LSRC will construct a more fluid and centralized work environment for students and faculty.

The plans are pending Board of Trustees approval and will be presented to the Board at its February meeting.

“The free-standing building, to house school administration and faculty offices and classrooms, will make a bold statement about Duke’s commitment to sustainable design and innovation,” Chameides said in the statement.

The facility will cost roughly between $30 and $35 million and will be funded by central administrative funds, Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said.

Uniting a school

Currently the Nicholas School is made up of three divisions—the Earth and Ocean Sciences Department in the Old Chemistry Building, Environmental Sciences and Policy in the LSRC and Marine Science and Conservation at the Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C.

Emily Klein, senior associate dean at the Nicholas School and professor of geology and director of undergraduate studies in earth and ocean sciences, noted the importance of putting the faculty in one place.

“It’s important for the Nicholas School faculty to be collocated,” Klein said. “But I will say this—like all students, I love it on the quad. And I’m going to miss it.”

The Environmental Hall is the second Nicholas School facility planned in the last eight years and echoes the goals of unity for Nicholas Hall, a proposed 160,000 square-foot project that was never built.

The construction of Nicholas Hall was announced following a $72 million pledge from Peter Nicholas, Trinity ’64 and former Board of Trustees chair, and Ginny Nicholas, Woman’s College ’64, in 2003, the largest in Duke’s history. The University never broke ground on the building because the donation was mostly never paid, The Chronicle previously reported.

The University’s contribution from central administrative funds that was originally allocated to supplement funding for Nicholas Hall is now going toward the Environmental Hall, Trask said.

Environmental Hall will be starkly different in cost and size but will still achieve the school’s goal of uniting the faculty.

“Since [Nicholas Hall is] not currently achievable, this is a smaller substitute,” Trask wrote in an email Dec. 5.

Some members of the Nicholas School were hesitant to make comparisons between the two buildings. Chameides deferred comment regarding the continuity between the Nicholas Hall project and the Environmental Hall to Scottee Cantrell, assistant dean for marketing and communications at the Nicholas School. Cantrell declined to comment beyond the statement released in November.

Trask added that in the long term all hope for a bigger, Nicholas Hall-type structure is not lost, if money becomes available. A larger, new building could eventually be a possibility although the University plans to renovate Gross Chemistry Building, the proposed site of Nicholas Hall, for other purposes, meaning that site will not be available in the short term, he added.

Go for the platinum

The University has hired design, engineering and planning firm Arup as its LEED certification consultants, according to Chameides’ statement. LEED platinum certification means a building has earned the highest standards for energy and environmental efficiency, as determined by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The Nicholas School hopes to incorporate sustainable designs such as a green roof, rainwater recycling to provide water for toilets and a thermal corridor, said Bruce Corliss, professor of earth and ocean sciences and a faculty coordinator for Duke’s Environmental Hall. There may also be large windows to utilize sunlight and open areas to promote airflow.

Payette, an architecture and design firm from Boston, is working with Duke on the design for the new building, University Consulting Architect John Pearce said.

Rob Jackson, a professor of global environmental change and associate dean for research and professor of biology, noted the significance of the Environmental Hall’s commitment to sustainability.

“We need to work hard to make sure the new building captures Duke’s commitment to the environment,” said Jackson, who is also a member of Duke’s design committee. “It needs to be a signature building for energy conservation.”

Jackson added that, overall, the building would be good for the students.

“Duke’s Environmental Hall will be better for undergraduates,” Jackson said. “It will have new classrooms, new technologies, better facilities and better contact with faculty.”

Taylor Doherty contributed reporting.

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