The Knight Management Center at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to be opened at the end of this month is anticipating attaining LEED platinum grading from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The Knight Management Center placed on the east/west axis utilized the perfect orientation in its green building design. The exposure on the southern side cuts down the need for electrical lighting and the lengthy north orientation utilizes the Mediterranean climate advantageously to provide natural ventilation to interior spaces of the building through the windows. The 360,000 square-foot management center underlines the environmental stewardship, entrepreneurship and environmental sciences taught by the University.
The Stanford Graduate School of Business Knight Management Center
The building incorporates a range of green initiatives considered as prerequisites for the platinum rated certification. The class rooms in the buildings are constructed with comparatively narrow dimensions with floor-to-ceiling glass to improve the day light penetration into the class rooms thus reducing the use of electric lighting. Nearly 90% of the spaces inside the building receive day light and electric lights installed in the rooms are fitted with sensors to turn off automatically when no one is around. The solar panels installed over the roof will produce around 500,000 kWh of power annually meeting nearly 12.5% power requirement of the complex. The eight buildings are designed with efficient under-floor air dispersion facilities to substitute forced air systems, the installed air-handling units retake the waste heat to distribute it in places where it is needed.
The building will utilize night flushing systems and machine controlled windows and skylights during the summer months to draw the cool air during the night by flushing the hot air out. The use of rainwater or re-distributed gray water for the sewers will cut down the potable water usage by nearly 80%. The trees removed from the building site are replanted at various places in the campus and plants that require less watering are used in the building. Nearly 50% of the building site is kept vacant to maintain open space.
The building used recycled materials during the construction. To ensure air quality inside the building only non volatile organic compound materials were used in the construction. The doors and windows of the building are constructed to mix with the construction unobtrusively. All parking spaces for the building are constructed below the ground.