New ECE building wins Green Good Design Award

The design for the new Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) building has been awarded a 2012 Green Good Design Award. The award went to SmithGroupJJR, the architectural firm for the new building.

Sponsored by the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, the Green Good Design Award recognizes the most important examples of sustainable design throughout the world. It also strives to raise awareness about companies that are doing outstanding work for sustainable design.

“We’re excited because this is an international award,” said David King, the lead design architect on the ECE building project. “There are very few projects that are given an award of this significance. We think it’s emblematic of how the project will be viewed—as a pace-setter and a leader.”

ECE Department Head Andreas C. Cangellaris said, “It is exciting to see that the vision for a zero-net-energy-to-the-grid building led to this award to the SmithGroupJJR for their design of our new ECE building. There is so much that electronics can do to improve the energy efficiency awareness and practice. This being a facility dedicated to ECE education and innovation demanded from us to make sure it becomes an exemplar of how you go about it. And David King and his team delivered on the vision!”

According to King, one of the key elements for the success of this building project is the commitment of the faculty and staff of the University. “Not just the department’s leadership, but also the facilities group and the University community as a whole got on board and supported this project from the beginning,” said King. “That goal of being a leader in environmental sustainability stayed with the team from day one.”

In September 2012, the European Centre and The Chicago Athenaeum will host a Conference on the Environment, where winning products and buildings from the 2012 Green Good Design competition will be exhibited. The exhibition will open at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and will then travel throughout the United States through 2013.

The winning projects could point the way to future sustainability in building design. “The design and construction industry is not giving these awards just to make the architects feel good,” said King, “but actually to provide a set of goals for future clients to aspire to.”

More information about the Green Good Design Award can be found at the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
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Writer/Contact: Tom Moone, communications coordinator, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 217/244-9893.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.