California State University, Northridge, is building a new Associated Students Sustainability Center.
The center will be a multifunctional space serving as an expanded collections station for campus recyclables, the administrative hub of the Associated Students' sustainability programs and services, and as the administrative offices of the Institute for Sustainability.
Constructing the 8,000-square-foot facility will cost about $4.7 million. Construction is scheduled to be completed in May 2017.
The administrative area will house seminar rooms, offices and workspaces, a pantry, restrooms, showers, and a 5,000-square-foot covered yard space.
The yard’s roof will include about 100 solar panels that will provide enough energy to keep the administrative space completely off the grid and support the university's initiative to become a carbon-neutral campus. Solar hot water produced on the roof will be used for the center’s sinks and showers, and used water will feed into a “gray water” collection tank that will irrigate drought-tolerant landscaping around the building.
The air conditioning system will be connected to the building’s windows to maximize natural ventilation and save power. The center’s restrooms will include self-contained composting toilets, which can convert waste into clean compost and limit water use to as little as 0.2 liters per flush.
The architect is Gensler, and the builder is Gilbane.
“The Sustainability Center...will play a major role in advancing our sustainability efforts on campus,” University President Dianne F. Harrison says. “To Associated Students, the students and the faculty and staff who have played a role in bringing this center from a mere idea in someone’s head to reality, I say thank you so much for your work in making CSUN a national leader and role model for sustainable practices and actions.”
