Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building (Y2E2)

The 166,500-sf teaching and research facility consists of three stories plus a basement and contains various wet and dry teaching and research labs, classrooms, offices, auditoriums, and associated support spaces. Every floor has a comfortable arrangement of couches and chairs for spontaneous collaboration, and a café will open in the near future.

Stanford’s vision for the SEQ-2 is one of academic, social, economic, and ecological sustainability. It underscores the University’s broader commitment to finding ways to reduce its carbon footprint. The Y2E2 is projected to use 56 percent less energy than a typical building of its size. A soaring skylight tops each of the four atriums in the building, providing natural light and ventilation.

The lab piping systems include compressed air, lab vacuum, natural gas, DI water, and lab waste. Recycled water is piped into the Y2E2 from Stanford’s on-site water treatment plant through the site piping system. Stanford’s goal is to reduce potable water use (excluding landscape irrigation) compared to similar existing buildings on campus. The reduction of potable water use for this building is projected to be approximately 55 percent. High-performance features include windows designed to maximize light and shade and electronic systems designed to control mechanical systems. Various types of solar panels were chosen for the roof because of their value as research and teaching aids.

Y2E2 was designed to fulfill several missions: to conserve, to inspire, and to teach. Its occupants--biologists, Earth scientists, ecologists, economists, engineers, legal scholars, and policy analysts--teach and research sustainability.

Stanford is pioneering energy-efficient ways of operating a university campus. Y2E2 is the third green building to be completed on the Palo Alto, Calif., campus. It serves as a template for the three other buildings planned for the SEQ-2: the School of Engineering Center, the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, and the Bioengineering/Chemical Engineering Building.

Content for this profile provided by Greene Engineers.

Project Information

Building Owner:

Stanford University

Building Location:

Palo Alto, California UNITED STATES

Project Type:

New Construction

Principal Building Function:

Teaching and research

Project Timeline

Mar 2008	Completion
Last known status: Completed

Project Cost:

$118,000,000

Construction Cost:

$80,000,000

About These Cost Figures

Building Information

Project Includes:

Atrium
Auditorium
Education
Laboratory
Support

Total GSF:

166,500

Project Team

Architect

BOORA Architects

Architect

CAS Architects

Builder

Hathaway Dinwiddle Construction Company

Contractor - Plumbing

Ray L. Hellwig Mechanical Co.

Engineer - Plumbing

Greene Engineers

Profile Created 11/19/2008

Last Updated 11/19/2008

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.

Fig. 1

Interior