Gearan Center, Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ new performing arts center, has achieved LEED Gold certification. The 65,000 SF, $25 million (construction cost) project, designed by GUND and opened last year, began pursuing LEED Silver, but with the leadership of the building’s namesake Mark Gearan, HWS’s president, and execution by GUND Partnership, the project was able to achieve the higher designation.

The site had a tremendous positive effect in the LEED scoring process. Formerly a parking lot, the site was fitted with bioswales that filter runoff water. Among the other green features of the building: Use of recycled and certified wood; extensive use of LED lighting; the bringing of natural light into all interior spaces; a small green roof; and a consciously constrained building footprint and building volume, which, respectively, limited the building’s impact on the site and reduced the total building materials necessary.