Sweeping views of the historic West End, a scenic courtyard brimming with blooms and foliage, a 175-seat dining hall, and energy-efficient suite-style rooms are just some of the amenities of the Spelman College state-of-the-art "green" residence hall called The Suites. The Suites are the first and only residence hall in the Atlanta University Center to be built with eco-friendly features and architectural attributes and the first LEED-certified residence hall at an HBCU.
Designed as a 303-bed residential hall, the 201,455-square-foot facility includes a 100-car parking deck with preferred parking for environmentally friendly, low-emission, fuel-efficient vehicles and covered bicycle storage. The building was constructed and designed with increased water efficiency developments, low-emitting materials such as adhesives, sealants, paints, and carpet, includes recyclable collection and storage on site, 20 percent of building materials were manufactured locally, with 75 percent of construction waste being diverted from landfills. Green housekeeping and site management are planned for the building’s day-to-day operations. Design features also include a meeting room, a private dining room, an exercise room, 10 recycling stations, an art gallery, five television lounge areas, four sitting rooms, and 10 study areas.
Art E. Frazier, Spelman’s director of Facilities Management and Services, explained buildings constructed in the U.S. significantly impact our environment. “They consume 71 percent of electricity, 30 percent of the nation’s raw materials, and 12 percent of our water, while producing 40 percent of CO2 emissions and 30 percent of waste input.” Citing some of the environmental benefits of The Suites, Frazier added, “By constructing The Suites as a LEED Building, we reduced the consumption of raw materials by specifying a number of materials with recycled content. The Suites consumes 30 percent less water and 21 percent less energy than a typical building of its size.”
The eight-story building houses 54 two-bedroom suites, 25 three-bedroom suites and 30 four-bedroom suites, one resident director suite and five visitor’s suites. The occupant population will consist of seniors, juniors and sophomores.