Kroon Hall will be Yale’s greenest building and a symbol of the School of Forestry & Environmental Sciences’ sustainable ideals. The building joins with two adjacent FES buildings to create a new unified identity for the School and offer a highly visible center for the study of the environment at Yale.
Centerbrook, as Architect of Record, is collaborating on the FES Building with Hopkins Architects of London.
The rectangular building, built of stone, concrete, steel, and glass, is sited between the neo-gothic Osborn Memorial Laboratory and Sage Bowers Hall on Yale’s Science Hill. It forms two new courtyards, reintroducing the historic Yale collegiate urban fabric to Science Hill. The gabled roof recalls its neighbors while integrating photovoltaic solar collectors and skylights. The end walls are glass with wooden screens that offer sheltered views in both directions. The top floor is a tall open space housing a large lecture hall, classrooms, and an environment center. The middle floors accommodate faculty offices, while the bottom floor has more classrooms and a library that lead out to the lower courtyard.
Yale is seeking a Platinum Rating for the building from the U. S. Green Building Council’s LEED Rating system, the highest available. The building’s sustainable features will include solar photovoltaic panels, ground source heat pumps, displacement air systems, natural light and ventilation, a rainwater harvesting system and cleansing pond, a green roof, and recycled and sustainable building materials.