Setting standards | Leonard A. Ford Hall at Minnesota State University

Leonard A. Ford Hall, the new 67,000-square-foot addition to Minnesota State University — Mankato's Trafton Science Center, has fulfilled Minnesota's B3 program (Buildings, Benchmarks and Beyond), which is equivalent to LEED silver.

Daylight floods the corridors and reaches into classrooms. South-facing windows look out onto a parterre garden of Native American plantings grown from the school's seed collection. The north side of Ford Hall overlooks a rock garden that exhibits the geology of the state.

The building was designed by HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA) (Minneapolis).