Photo By Staff Sgt. Elora McCutcheon | Booths and tables fill one of the lounges in the newly-renovated Gray Hall Dorm March...... read more read more
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GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D.— Gray Hall, one of five dormitories on base, was awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certificate March 26, 2020, following a two-year renovation.
Contrast to the vintage-looking brick exterior of Gray Hall, the renovated interior breathes a more modern air with its updated paint, brand new furniture and LED lights brightly illuminating the halls.
LEED was developed by the U.S. Green building council as a third-party system that would verify the development of a sustainable, or otherwise known, “green” building.
Greg Sturdevant, 319th Civil Engineer base architect and project manager for the renovation, explained how the updated construction not only is sustainable and environmentally aware, but designed to increase morale and wellness of dorm residents:
“We’re increasing energy efficiency, saving on costs, and being mindful about human health,” he said. “We used low volatile organic compound adhesives for the flooring and low VOC paint, which is better for the environment and Airmen living here. We increased fresh air ventilation, used rapidly renewable materials and recycled 78 percent of on-site generated construction.”
Gray Hall’s previous configuration of two bedrooms sharing a single bathroom was reconfigured into suites consisting of a common space shared by two bedrooms with private bathrooms, reducing capacity by 30 percent. This update, as explained by Sturdevant, competes with modern layouts of college dormitories and student housing.
“We designed the lounges on each floor with the residents’ lives in mind,” Sturdevant said. “The main floor lounge is the largest, with a kitchen area, with the idea that when families visit they can gather there instead of an Airman’s tinier dorm room. The second floor has a set-up to accommodate gamers or movie watchers. And then the third floor styles booths and small tables as a study room.”
Unmarried first-term Airmen typically spend an average of two or three years living in unaccompanied housing, and with the new sustainable design, any of those years spent in Gray Hall is meant to be improved compared to dorms with standard baseline construction.
| Date Taken: | 03.26.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2020 09:29 |
| Story ID: | 378346 |
| Location: | GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, NORTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 20 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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