Yale Divinity School has opened a new student residence designed to meet one of the nation’s most rigorous sustainable building standards.
Yale Divinity School has opened a new student residence designed to meet one of the nation’s most rigorous sustainable building standards.
Carol B. Bauer Hall, part of the school’s Living Village complex on Prospect Street in New Haven, welcomed its first residents in August. The building, located at 409 Prospect St. in New Haven, is being developed under the Living Building Challenge, which requires structures to produce more energy than they use, manage all water on-site and be built with safe, sustainable materials.
The complex includes solar shingles and a photovoltaic canopy expected to generate 110% of the building’s energy needs, underground cisterns to collect rainwater, and on-site wastewater treatment intended to allow reuse for toilets and irrigation. Landscaping plans call for gardens, orchards and an outdoor amphitheater.
If fully certified, the Living Village would become the largest residential project to meet the Living Building Challenge, according to the International Living Future Institute, which oversees the standard.
The residence is named for Carol Bauer, a philanthropist and longtime chaplain at Norwalk Hospital. She and her husband, George Bauer, a Yale Divinity School advisory council member, were major donors to the project.
The complex was designed by Bruner/Cott of Boston with Höweler + Yoon as design architect and Shawmut Design and Construction as construction manager. Yale officials said the Living Village is part of the university’s broader “Planetary Solutions” initiative to address climate change.
