ARTICLE ABSTRACT

A Lesson in Green
———— In its ambitious use of daylight and financing options, the University of Oregon’s Lillis Business Complex is a model of innovation.

By G.Z. Brown, Lynn R. Kahle, Frank Vignola and Emily J. Wright

Classroom window shades are automated to control the amount of daylighting. CREDIT: FRANK VIGNOLA

Last October, the University of Oregon hosted a ribbon-cutting event to unveil its $41 million business school expansion. The Lillis Business Complex showcases cutting-edge designs for energy efficiency, including photovoltaics (PV) integrated into the building’s envelope. The facility is heralded as a model of innovation, both for its ambitious use of daylight and as a fund-raising effort. Not satisfied with the goal of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the new Lillis complex, designers incorporated a plethora of energy-efficiency features to make the building 40 percent more energy-efficient than required by code.

The 196,500-square-foot complex uses daylight in the classrooms, plants on the roof to filter contaminants from rain run-off, and PV in the four-story atrium entrance and roof. In a state that long has been a leader in environmentalism, planners naturally considered green features for the business school expansion. Going the extra step to incorporate PV required additional incentives, however. Here we examine how that decision came about, and why it made sense for the university to create in the Lillis Business Complex the only building at a top-ranked business school registered with the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program.

G.Z. Brown can be reached at gzbrown@uoregon.edu. Lynn R. Kahle can be reached at lkahle@oregon.uoregon.edu. Frank Vignola can be reached at fev@uoregon.edu. Emily J. Wright can be reached at ewright1@gladstone.uoregon.edu.