Like much of the construction industry, OSU relies on various green building standards like US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program to build high performance buildings. For OSU projects where LEED certification is not pursued, in 2019, the university implemented additional green building standards known as the Requirements for Sustainable Development that result in high performance buildings. Many projects noted below initiated prior to 2019 were built to LEED equivalence but not certified. Projects initiated 2019 or later follow RSD.
|
Building Name |
LEED, RSD^ or Equivalence* Level |
Year Completed |
Gross Square Ft. |
| Withycombe Hall West Renovation | Acceptable^ | 2025 | 71,360 |
| Goss Baseball Hitting Building | Acceptable^ | 2025 | 8,976 |
| 1045 SW Madison Ave Apartments | Acceptable^ | 2024 | 79,649 |
| Cordley Hall Remodel | Outstanding^ | 2024 | 247,602 |
| Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts | Outstanding^ | 2024 | 43,291 |
| Reser Stadium Westside Expansion | Acceptable^ | 2023 | 155,054 |
| Fairbanks Hall | Acceptable^ | 2022 | 31,312 |
| Edward J. Ray Hall | Gold* | 2021 | 43,076 |
| North District Utility Plant | Outstanding^ | 2021 | 5,249 |
| Western Shops | Outstanding^ | 2021 | 52,860 |
| Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building | Gold* | 2021 | 65,984 |
| Peavy Forest Science Center | Silver* | 2020 | 83,951 |
| Magruder Hall Expansion | Silver* | 2019 | 14,500 |
| Tykeson Hall | Silver* | 2016 | 45,000 |
| Johnson Hall |
Gold* |
2016 | 61,926 |
| Strand Agricultural Hall | Silver* | 2015 | 95,989 |
| Learning Innovation Center (LInC) | 2015 | 119,129 | |
| Student Experience Center | Gold | 2015 | 84,507 |
| Austin Hall | Gold* | 2014 | 106,966 |
| Tebeau Hall | Gold* | 2014 | 68,274 |
| Basketball Practice Facility (addition to Sports Performance Center) | Gold* | 2013 | 76,339 |
| Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws | Silver* | 2012 |
3,923 |
| Beth Ray Center for Academic Support | Silver* | 2012 | 34,211 |
| Oldfield Animal Teaching Facility | Silver* | 2012 | 19,799 |
| Furman Hall | Silver* | 2011 | 38,603 |
| Hallie Ford Center | Silver* | 2011 | 27,262 |
| International Living-Learning Center | Gold* | 2011 | 152,245 |
| McAlexander Fieldhouse | Gold* | 2011 | 61,824 |
| Energy Center | Platinum | 2010 | 32,419 |
| Linus Pauling Science Center | Silver* | 2010 | 106,953 |
| Reed Lodge | Silver* | 2010 | 13,299 |
| Heckart Lodge | Silver* | 2009 | 14,197 |
| Kearney Hall | Gold | 2009 | 31,952 |
| Sports Performance Center | Silver* | 2008 | 31,593 |
| Magruder Hall-Large Animal Hospital | Silver* | 2008 | 131,384 |
| Kelley Engineering Center | Gold | 2005 | 152,166 |
| Weatherford Hall | Certified | 2004 | 105,000 |
Sustainable Design Highlights
Cordley Hall
Originally built in the 1950s, Cordley Hall completed its eight-year renovation in 2024. The research facility, built to meet LEED Gold equivalent standards, contains two science departments, a 220-seat lecture hall, 47 research labs, two natural history collections, and a visible taxidermy collection of avian species. Cordley Hall, along with six other campus buildings, is supported by the North District Utility Plant. This, combined with other energy improvements made during the renovation, such as Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) improvements, new fire alarms and sprinklers, and new custom windows, allow for an impressive $150,000 in annual energy savings and energy consumption levels 36 percent below code requirements. The renovated building also includes a new accessible ramp and two large art pieces by Ann Hamilton.
North District Utility Plant
Completed in 2021, the North District Utility Plant contains three 1500-ton chillers, which replaced failing chillers in many buildings it serves, including the Agricultural and Life Sciences Building, Nash Hall, Cordley Hall, and Withycombe Hall. These chillers have magnetic bearings, which helps reduce friction and puts less demand on the compressor motors. This results in significant energy savings, in contrast to the older chillers in the Kelley District Utility Plant. Additionally, the chillers were constructed with additional capacity, allowing more buildings to be served by the North District Utility Plant in the future.
Learning Innovation Center
Opened in Fall 2015, OSU's largest classroom building is a four-story, technology-rich learning environment, hosting over 2,300 general purpose classroom seats in 14 unique, state-of-the-art classrooms including arena- and parliament-style classrooms, a variety of collaborative learning environments, and 640 seats of informal learning space distributed around the building. The most visible, innovative sustainable design feature is the orientation of circulation space to lecture halls and classroom spaces. Primary circulation spaces are on the south side of the building in a large atrium where temperatures are allowed to fluctuate, partly driven by incoming sunlight. This area receives reduced cooling and heating, resulting in significant energy savings by allowing temperatures to naturally swing up and down. More typical heating and cooling is applied to classrooms, lecture halls and other areas occupied more hours of the day. The building is also solar ready with conduits, structural support and electrical space for a future solar electric installation.
Student Experience Center
The Student Experience Center is certified LEED Gold from U.S. Green Building Council. Completed in Spring of 2015, the Student Experience Center is a four story, 87,900 square foot building with a full basement located on the corner of Jefferson Way and Waldo Place. The building is designed to house multiple student organizations including the student government offices. The basement houses the craft center and building services. Floors 1 to 3 have multiple suites for the student offices. Student media, including the radio and television stations is located on the fourth floor. In conjunction with the building, a covered plaza was also built between the Memorial Union and the Student Experience Center.
OSU Energy Center
OSU's 1920s era heat plant provided steam to most campus buildings until 2009 when the new OSU Energy Center went online, producing steam and electricity to efficiently heat and power OSU's main campus. This co-generating, or combined heat and power (CHP), technology greatly increases efficiencies by utilizing waste heat from the electrical generation process. This "waste" heat is utilized to heat campus buildings. Additionally, the close proximity of the electricity generating source to electrical loads on campus means transmission line losses are greatly reduced, improving overall efficiency of the electrical grid and postponing the electric utility company's need for increased capacity.
Energy Center systems are configured for future use of renewable fuels, such as biodiesel and methane. CHP facilities are becoming more widely adopted because of high efficiency and enhanced reliability. This facility will reduce OSU's emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX), carbon monoxide (CO), and greenhouse gases.
Additional benefits of this project include:
- Reduced air emissions, including an estimated 38% reduction in greenhouse gases
- Reduced water consumption through rainwater capture and by modernizing systems
- Lower transmission losses by generating about 40% of OSU's electricity on site.
The Energy Center building was designed to LEED green building standards, and in January 2011 received a Platinum rating from US Green Building Council. Read more.
Kearney Hall
Built in 1899, Kearney - formerly Apperson - Hall underwent a $12 million renovation in 2007 and 2008. Kearney achieved a LEED Gold rating from the US Green Building Council. Attempting to preserve its historical significance as well as reduce the need for new materials, the granite and sandstone shell remained almost completely intact during the extensive renovation. Exposed walls and ceilings will allow the building to be used as a 'living classroom' for generations of new engineers.
Notable features of Kearney Hall include:
- Use of natural light in classrooms, offices and common spaces to reduce dependency on lighting systems
- Reuse of many building materials for new construction
- Extensive use of local and recycled-content construction materials.
Kelley Engineering Center
The Kelley Engineering Center, which opened the summer of 2005, is the physical centerpiece of the OSU College of Engineering drive to become one of the nation's top-25 engineering programs. The building's design is centered on communication, innovation and responsible environmental design.
Kelley Engineering Center is certified LEED Gold from U.S. Green Building Council, making it the “greenest” academic engineering building in United States at the time of certification. The four-story, 153,000-sq.ft., $45 million building features extensive sustainable "green" design elements, used to educate students and others about sustainability and renewable energy issues.
Weatherford Hall
Originally constructed in 1928 then closed in 1994, Weatherford Hall is a landmark building that reopened in 2004 after an extensive historic renovation and is the first OSU building to receive a green building certification. The LEED-registered remodel is home to one of the first residential colleges on the west coast. It is a collaborative effort of the College of Business, the College of Engineering, and University Housing and Dining Services.
Other Buildings
While the buildings listed above in Sustainable Design Highlights represent the most recent green innovation or sustainable design milestones in OSU’s construction history, please visit the Sustainable Building Descriptions (archive) webpage for information about the sustainable design features of other buildings at OSU.