Remaking Greensburg

Transcript

To help rebuild tornado-torn Greensburg, an architecture program is constructing the most sustainable building in Kansas. From the University of Kansas, this is Research Matters. I’m Brendan Lynch.

Studio 804, the design build program at the KU School of Architecture and Urban Design, aspires to construct in Greensburg a prototype building that’s LEED Certified – the most rigorous standard for environment-friendly buildings. Studio 804 is lead by Dan Rockhill.

Dan Rockhill: "Greensburg will hopefully see Studio 804 as providing leadership and an example that, you know, if students can do it we can certainly do it — meaning both the community as well as people that they bring into town to do development, etcetera. So I think there’s an opportunity here to lead by example."

Rockhill, J.L. Constant Distinguished Professor of Architecture, says a comprehensive approach is key to attaining LEED certification.

Dan Rockhill: "You are asked though a registration process to participate in a series of questions that make your doing you income tax look easy. We have taken advantage of every imaginable opportunity in recycling materials, using materials that are local in their evolution, as well as using all natural heating and cooling to the extent that we can in Greensburg, harnessing the wind, using solar power — many, many things."

Studio 804 will fabricate the structure from recycled materials -- then haul the components by truck to Greensburg. Environmental considerations in Greensburg will strongly influence design.

Dan Rockhill: "The sun rises and follows a trajectory that takes it though the southern sky and it’s either high or low depending on the season. And we can calculate that and depend up on those calculations to help us to modulate the sun. Farmers used to do that forever. And I think we’ve lost our way in the last 30 or 40 years with the sort of building boom and the enthusiasm for suburbia. And we have lost sight of the sensible way to build."

For more on remaking Greensburg, log on to Research Matters dot K-U dot E-D-U. For the University of Kansas, I’m Brendan Lynch.

Tell Me More

KU architecture students to build a sustainable prototype for Greensburg

LAWRENCE — Studio 804 at the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Planning has committed to design and construct a sustainable prototype for the city of Greensburg.

Read the full press release