Serving as an example of environmental sensitivity, the Bren School holds a platinum LEED™ rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The $20.6-million facility is the first green building in the UC system and is the first platinum-rated research laboratory in the country under version 1.0 of the LEED™ guidelines.

The 84,672-sf building is organized as a three-story lab structure and four-story office structure around a central courtyard. A two-story portal allows additional air and light into the courtyard. Visual connections are maintained from one side to the other with the courtyard and second level terrace serving as primary gathering places. Vertical circulation areas and an outdoor corridor system also provide a variety of balconies and seating areas for impromptu meetings. The building is intended to organize diverse programs while accommodating specialized departments and enhancing the overall collegial atmosphere of biological and geological sciences.

The Bren School includes faculty and department offices, teaching and research laboratories and support facilities for applied and quantitative ecology, earth systems sciences, environmental engineering, environmental microbiology and toxicology, and environmental policy and resource management.

The ground floor houses 1,200 sf of classrooms and breakout rooms and a 100-seat lecture hall. Featuring panoramic ocean views, the second floor houses department administration offices, support facilities, and a conference room. Labs and some offices are on the third floor, with more offices and another conference room on the fourth floor.

Sustainable features include drought-tolerant landscaping, water-conserving fixtures throughout the building, natural lighting and ventilation in the offices, and recyclable/renewable materials for the countertops and flooring. A roof-integrated photovoltaic system cleanly generates a significant percentage of power on site year-round. The building surpasses new Title 24 requirements for energy efficiency standards by more than 31 percent.

Project Information
Building Owner:		University of California, Santa Barbara
Owner Contact:		Martie Levy
Building Location:		Santa Barbara, CA UNITED STATES
Project Type:		New Construction
Principal Building Function:		School of Environmental Science and Management
Project Delivery Method:		Design/Bid/Build
Project Timeline		Sep 1992 Planning Start Jul 1993 Design Start Jan 2000 Construction Start Apr 2002 Completion Last known status: Completed
Project Cost:		$26,000,000
Construction Cost:		$20,622,522
Cost Per Sq. Ft:		$243
		About These Cost Figures
Building Information
Project Includes:		Biology Conference Room Ecology Education Education: Administration Education: Classroom Education: Faculty Office Education: Lecture Or Seminar Hall Education: Life Sciences Environmental Science Geology Laboratory: Research Laboratory: Teaching Life Sciences Office: Researcher
Total GSF:		84,672
Total NSF:		48,830
Efficiency:		58%
Building Population:		195
Building Services:		Compressed air, vacuum, gas, industrial cold and hot water, N2 (nitrogen), purified water, special gas, cylinder gas
Office Size:		10' 6" x 12' NSF
Power Req:		17 w/nsf
HVAC Req:		1.5 cfm/nsf
Structure/Foundation:		spread footings
Laboratory Parameters
Lab Module:		10' 6" x 24
Casework Mat'l:		Plastic Laminate casework and epoxy resin countertops
Fume Hoods:		1 @ 4'; 15 @ 6'
Biosafety Cabinets:		1 Class II; 2 OFOI Class II
Project Team
Architect		Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP
Consultant - Elevator		Lerch Bates & Associates Inc.
Consultant - Wind Analysis		CPP Inc.
Profile Created 08/17/2005
Last Updated 04/04/2006
About the Reported Cost Figures The cost figures reported are supplied by the firms that submitted these projects for publication, which in most cases are the designers or builders. Whereas these sources are intimately familiar with their projects, they may not be fully aware of the owners' finally-realized and recorded costs. In some cases, costs are truly and completely accounted for, and in others they represent a near approximation of the final costs. Costs have not been adjusted for year of construction, nor has any attempt been made to make regional cost adjustments. Further, costs are not comparable on any kind of detailed standard costing model. Hence, it is possible for the cost of one building to include a steam boiler, while the cost of a comparable building might not include the boiler, if steam is being supplied from an already existing campus grid. Or, in another case, a building might include excess boiler capacity to supply steam to another building. Some submittals include fees or unusual site improvements as part of the construction costs, which others do not.