The T building is built to a LEED gold standard, scoring high in the areas of site, energy, water, indoor air quality and innovation and within striking distance of the top rating, Platinum. It will use ground source heating and cooling like the R building, but also natural ventilation in the office building, which reduces the need for mechanical fans and associated electric consumption. The building will have windows and insulation to regulate heating and cooling, occupancy sensors, skylights, and daylight dimmers to reduce unnecessary energy consumption. Overall energy efficiency exceeds the standard used in LEED (AHRAE 90.1) by 30%.
The T building introduces the first “green-roof” to Bellevue College, porous walkways and a series of rain gardens and detention to naturally absorb rainwater, reducing hazardous storm-water runoff, and won’t require ongoing irrigation through drought-tolerant landscaping.
Other green features include hydration stations for filling water bottles, new bike racks, and low VOC interior finishes.
The T building is across Landerholm Circle from the S building, with three floors for a total of 70,515 gross square feet, including classrooms, health science specialty spaces, offices and a café.
The T Building is LEED Gold verified with many sustainable green features.
- Solar shades on the exterior that provides natural shading and reduce the load on cooling systems.
- Energy efficient lighting (LED lighting, motion sensors)
- Rapidly renewable used materials throughout the building, like bamboo, on the interior.
- Toilets and urinals save over 40% of water than conventional fixtures.
- Ground source heat pumps that moderate the temperature of incoming outside air, which reduces energy consumption. During hot summers they are able to provide up to 9 degrees of free cooling.
- Porous concrete sidewalks that allow stormwater to easily flow into the ground and
Last Updated March 28, 2021