The Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest preserved the historic character of a 19th century Vermont farmhouse with advanced environmental features.

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - It’s not what you might expect from Vermont’s first - and the nation’s seventh - LEED platinum certified building. Middlebury College’s Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest does not look like a spaceship or a water filtration plant, but rather a comfortable no-nonsense historically listed Victorian farmhouse. Originally built in the 1870s, the building is now a model of sustainable design that college planners hope will be replicable at other institutions in Vermont and elsewhere.

The college received notice from the United States Green Building Council in mid-October that the Franklin Environmental Center meets its highest level of certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), under the NC 2.2 standard. The Franklin Environmental Center is used for classes, seminars, faculty offices and student study areas.

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details of the sustainable design and construction process are available online at the Middlebury Web site.

Middlebury’s interdisciplinary undergraduate environmental studies program is the oldest in the country, and includes courses in the sciences and environmental policy as well as literature, architecture, history, religion, dance, economics, anthropology, psychology and international studies.

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