The school roped in Denver-based Semple Brown Design for designing the hall and Denver-based contractor CMC Construction for constructing the 20,000-square-foot cafeteria. The total outlay of the project was $4.5 million.
The dining hall presents before the students the entire cycle of food, from garden to kitchen to compost. The hall features a 14×18 feet vertical garden/ living wall with 576 plants and herbs that are used in cooking. The open space landscape surrounding the building is filled with indigenous flowers and grass and has an apiary, apple, plum, cherry and apricot orchards; and an outdoor herb and vegetable garden. The school uses composted food waste to fertilize the garden and orchards.
The building, in comparison to other similar buildings, consumes 42% less energy. The roof of the dining hall has 27 kilowatt photovoltaic energy panels for powering the unit and the interior lights of the building have inbuilt sensors that adjust lights according to requirement. The north-facing clerestory windows of the building bring in ample natural light to the hall, thereby trimming down the cost of lighting. Further, all the appliances and light fixtures used in the dining hall are of highest energy-efficiency standards.
The school has an efficient waste management system which either composts or recycles waste, thereby diverting majority waste from the landfills. The roof of the hall has rain chains that channel rain water to plants, for efficient rain water harvesting.
CMC Construction used bamboo for the hall’s flooring and made the wall movable for accommodating group meetings in the evening. The western facade of the building has sliding doors and undulating windows that allows views of the mountain on the Front Range. The ceiling has narrow maple lining. The architects have given a sloped roof to the hall which has a height of 11 feet at is lowest point and 22 feet at its highest point. The angled roof gives the exterior a lifted look. The shingles of the halls are made using 85% recycled materials.
