The Living Learning Center at Tyson Research Center was designed to meet the stringent requirements for becoming one of the greenest buildings in North America. To meet those standards required solutions to environmental, architectural and legal challenges never before experienced by designers.
The two men most instrumental in the successful design of the center — Jonathan M. Chase, Ph.D., director of the Tyson Research Center and associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences; and Daniel Hellmuth, principal and co-founder of Hellmuth & Bicknese Architects — will discuss the center and its challenges for the Assembly Series at 5 p.m. Sept. 24 in Wilson Hall, Room 214. The program is free and open to the public.
Chase has taught at WUSTL since 2002 and took over the directorship of Tyson in 2007. His research covers broad areas in the study of species diversity in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. A prolific author, his research has been published in a wide range of journals, especially in those devoted to ecology.
Chase earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan; a master’s degree from Utah State University; and a doctoral degree from the University of Chicago.
Hellmuth has extensive experience in sustainable design and is a LEED-accredited professional. For more than 25 years, he has worked on government, housing, educational, historic preservation and transit design and planning projects. With more than 28 LEED projects to his firm’s credit, Hellmuth can now add the Living Building Challenge Project, a feat that creates a net-zero energy, water, and construction carbon-footprint building.
Hellmuth is devoted to bringing sustainable development to St. Louis. He helped establish the St. Louis chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and served as its first chair. He is involved with creating a sustainable community development code and a “green streetscape” plan for Euclid Avenue in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis.
Tyson Research Center, located 20 miles southwest of the Danforth Campus, contains 2,000 acres of woods, prairie, ponds and savannas for faculty and students to conduct environmental research.
The Living Learning Center is a 2,900-square-foot facility built to meet the Living Building Challenge, currently the most stringent green building rating system in the world. More than 60 design projects are pursuing certification, but the Living Learning Center is one of the first two to meet its rigorous guidelines.
For more information, visit assemblyseries.wustl.edu or call 314-935-4620.