New residence hall at San Diego State University gets LEED Gold rating

San Diego State University’s newest residential community, Huaxyacac Hall, has received LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The university says the 110-student facility opened in August 2019 and is the university’s first residential community to attain LEED Gold status.

Five other residential facilities at San Diego State have LEED certifications:: South Campus Plaza North, South Campus Plaza South, Tenochca, Tula and Zura.

“Achieving LEED Gold on Huaxyacac was a huge achievement for SDSU,” says Director of Construction Amanda Scheidlinger. “We worked together with our design-build team from the inception of the project and always tried to make intelligent decisions that could boost our project's sustainability goals without additional costs or impacts.”

Huaxyacac, situated on the western side of campus adjacent to Chapultepec residence hall, is designed with a focus on resource efficiency that minimizes environmental impact and produces cost savings over its life cycle.

Features include advanced energy and water metering to optimize energy efficiency and support water management, low-flow toilets, showers and faucets to promote water conservation and trickle vents in resident rooms to improve indoor air quality and reduce energy consumption.

Additional sustainable elements include an expansive outdoor space with water-efficient landscaping, covered bicycle storage and water bottle refill stations.

In addition to the residential communities, a number of San Diego State buildings have received LEED certifications in recent years. The Mission Bay Aquatic Center became the first in 2013, and was  followed by the Children’s Center, Storm and Nasatir Halls, Aztec Recreation Center, Mission Bay Aquatic Center and Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union.