AU President Neil Kerwin and Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, Wednesday broke ground for the new School of International Service building with the same shovel President Dwight D. Eisenhower used 50 years ago in the groundbreaking of the current SIS building.
The university modeled Wednesday's ceremony off the groundbreaking in 1957, but also tried to make it more contemporary, said Andrea Inman, alumni relations coordinator for SIS and a graduate student in SIS.
Eisenhower broke ground at the original ceremony, and yesterday Inouye, the vice chairman of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, took his place. AU's president was present at each ceremony, as was the bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Methodist Conference, the Rev. John Schol.
The building is designed to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certified, its highest rating. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design defines green architecture and ratings are given on how many points a building is awarded. Points are awarded for environmentally friendly structures, such as bike racks and a green roof.
The building will recycle rainwater, and the large windows in the building will allow for less energy consumption, according to an SIS information sheet.
The green design elements were important, Inouye told The Eagle in an interview prior to the ceremony.
"I'm glad that someone has gone beyond talking," he said. "It will not just be a step forward, but it will establish a model. The student body should be very proud."
Having the ceremony resemble the one 50 years ago was a nice touch, Inouye said.
"In order to plan for the future, we should know what happened in the past," he said. "The past can give you warning or inspire you. This one - the past should inspire."
SIS is what AU is known for, Kerwin said.
"For 50 years, the School of International Service has helped define American University," he said. "The creation of SIS was a statement of values and a statement of ambition."
SIS is also known around the world, Schol said, during an interview with The Eagle.
"What [the groundbreaking] means is we commit to the future, we commit to the world," he said. "This is AU saying we believe in the world - it's very exciting."
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FORUM HIGHLIGHTS 'GREEN' BUILDING
Approximately 150 students attended yesterday a panel discussion about the design of the new School of International Service building in the Ward Circle Building, in conjunction with the groundbreaking of the building. Representatives from AU and the architectural firms that designed the building explained how it was designed and what the future will hold. It has been a couple of decades since SIS outgrew its current facilities, said Jorge Abud, assistant vice president of Facilities and Administrative Services. The building, which is designed to be green, will make a statement, Abud said. The EPA defines "green buildings" as the practice of creating healthier and more resource-efficient methods of construction, operation, renovation, demolition and maintenance. The university has done a lot of things to reduce its current environmental footprint, but the SIS building will the most public, he said. Kathy Grove, an employee of William McDonough and Partners, a green architectural firm that is the architect of the building, explained the design process for the building and what her company thought of as they designed it. "In nature there is no waste," she said. "How can we do that in our design?" To design a building for SIS was to design a building for people who go into the world to wage peace, she said. The SIS project is unique because SIS staff came to the project knowing what they wanted out of the building and how that related to the school's mission, said Carl Elefante, a partner of Quinn Evans Architects, who worked on the building. It was one of the most unique aspects in Elefante's 30 plus years as an architect, he said. Literally hundreds of people from across the country have worked on the building, Elefante said. "This is a transitional point," he said. Hundreds more will now work on the building. Grove explained through a slideshow the environmental impact of the building and the thoughts that went into designing the building, including where the materials would come from closer to D.C. and the impact of having lots of glass in the building. "This is not your typical building in D.C.," Grove said. - BRIAN KALISH |
"SIS has grown to more then six times the size envisioned by its founders," he said during the event. "We are here today because people before us dared to dream."
SIS staff is excited for the new building because it will incorporate the school's entire faculty into one building, Inman said. Currently, faculty and classes are spread across the campus.
Being under one roof will further promote the mission of the school, Leeanne Dunsmore, associate dean in SIS and a 1997 graduate from the school's master's program, said.
"One school under one roof dedicated to one mission - service," she said. "A life dedicated to service is truly a life worth living."
Construction will not start immediately. A few more permits must be secured first due to changed laws, Inman said. Currently, the university estimates construction will start in January, Inman said.
The new building should be occupied in two years, Goodman said.
Chris Ashton, a junior in SIS, said he was excited about the groundbreaking.
"They need a new building," he said. "SIS has grown since it first started ... it doesn't reflect it in our facilities."
However, although the school needs a new building, it won't benefit as many people as it could, said Lacey Stewart, a senior in SIS.
"It's taken so long to get started, and now because it will be a green building, it will take so long to build that a lot of people don't get to benefit," she said. "They should have a new building, but the way [they] are doing it is just going to take too long."
The building will mark a new beginning, Goodman said.
"A building that will bring all the faculty together for the very first time - it's something we need," he said.
