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Earth Day 2010: Maharishi University of Management-USA to erect walls of unique off-the-grid building, 22 April

Maharishi University of Management, USA    Translate This Article
21 April 2010

For Immediate Release
Contact: Ken Chawkin
Ph. 641-470-1314
kchawkin@mum.edu
www.mum.edu

— PRESS RELEASE —

Maharishi University of Management
to Erect Walls of New Off-the-Grid Building on Earth Day

Sustainable Living Center Will Be Unique in the Country

Press Conference and Earth Day Event
Scheduled for 12:45 p.m. April 22


On Earth Day, April 22, the walls and the roof will go up on Maharishi University of Management's new Sustainable Living Center, a building that will set a new standard for green building in America by being completely off the grid with respect to electricity, heating and cooling, water, and waste.

A press conference will be held at 12:45 pm at the site of the Sustainable Living Center construction, just north of the university library on Highway 1, in Fairfield, Iowa, USA.

The Sustainable Living Center has been designed to meet the Living Building Challenge, the highest standard for sustainable design and green building in the world. It will be one of the first three to achieve this. And it will be unique because it will be the first to combine that standard with the standards of LEED Platinum certification, Building Biology, and Maharishi Vedic Architecture.

''There's no other building like this going up in the nation, or in the world for that matter, that we know of,'' said nationally known green building expert Mike Nicklas, who co-designed the building and whose company Innovative Design has designed over 4000 buildings that use renewable energy solutions.

Whole Tree Post and Beam Construction
Construction will proceed quickly on Earth Day because the structure uses Whole Tree post and beam techniques. The walls will be tilted up and roof trusses placed on them.

The entire shell of the building should be completed within about a week, and the building is expected to be ready for occupation in late fall.

A building that teaches
The Sustainable Living Center will serve students in the university's
Sustainable Living major. It will have classrooms, workshop, meeting room, greenhouse, kitchen, research lab, recycling center, and offices, as well as east and west covered verandas and a porch on the north.

It has been designed as a building that teaches. In addition to embodying sustainability, it will allow students to monitor performance and energy efficiency and make adjustments.

''The Sustainable Living Center will be a living, evolving building,'' said David Fisher, head of the MUM Sustainable Living Department, who helped plan the building. ''The building itself is an educational tool, not just a passive one like most classroom buildings. It will provide participatory education where students will be continually adding to, or altering, the building and grounds as well as systematically checking its effectiveness.''

The building will also be a showcase for the public, and will feature meeting rooms, a real-time energy and renewable systems monitor, and displays of materials and building systems featured in the building to showcase partnerships with leading technologies and materials manufacturers.

Available for media interviews:
* Sustainable Living department head David Fisher;
* Construction manager Dal Loiselle;
* Fairfield Mayor Ed Malloy; and
* Associate design architect Jon Lipman.

For more information please contact:
Marco Sunseri: (1) 641-472-7000 x2449.


Global Good News will feature a second article about the Sustainable Living Center on Earth Day, 22 April.

© Copyright 2010 Global Good News®

Global Good News comment:

For the good news about Maharishi's seven-point programme to create a healthy, happy, prosperous society, and a peaceful world, please visit: Global Financial Capital of New York.



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