June 25, 2013.

On this day, IUPUI reported that the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute building was the first structure on any Indiana University campus to receive the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Gold certification. The building houses the IU School of Medicine's Department of Ophthalmology. 

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and is a widely used building certification effort that aims to encourage owners, builders, and architects to design buildings to minimize their environmental impacts and use of energy, water, and other resources. The gold rating means the building design incorporated energy-saving features. That means that in the long term the building will be less expensive to operate and maintain. These features included energy-efficient lighting and heat recovery; reduced-flow toilets and sinks; landscaping with native plant species that require less water to keep alive; use of recycled materials and low-volatile-organic compounds in interior materials to improve indoor air quality; a rain garden and drip system to minimize water bills; efficient heating/air-conditioning/ventilation systems, and monitoring systems to note when rooms are empty to turn off lights and reduce air-handling. Architects also considered the building's orientation to the sun in making decisions about the glass that clad the build.

Eugene and Marilyn Glick gave $30 million to fund the building and a research endowment for the department. The building opened in 2011.

IUPUI has many opportunities to improve the environmental friendliness of the buildings on its campus. Designing to LEED standards is a major step in the right direction to ensure a sustainable university.

To learn more about the built environment of IUPUI, consult records in IUPUI Special Collections and Archives. Ask an archivist at speccoll@iupui.edu