Bren Hall, opened in April 2002, is located on the campus of

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

, located in Santa Barbara,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is named in honor of philanthropist

Donald Bren Donald Leroy Bren (born May 11, 1932) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and owner of the Irvine Company, a U.S. real estate development corporation. With a net worth of $18 billion, he ranks number 104 on the 2024 Forbes ...

and hosts the university's

Bren School of Environmental Science & Management The UC Santa Barbara Bren School of Environmental Science and Management is the graduate environmental studies school of the University of California, Santa Barbara. The mission of the Bren School is to play a leading role in researching environ ...

. The building has a view of

Santa Barbara Channel The Santa Barbara Channel is a portion of the Southern California Bight and separates the mainland of California from the northern Channel Islands. It is generally south of the city of Santa Barbara, and west of the Oxnard Plain in Ventura Co ...

and the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. It has been called the "greenest" laboratory facility in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Construction

Bren Hall's original location was a parking lot. All of the waste was recycled and used in the construction or elsewhere on campus. Developers designed the building to conserve power by using energy-efficient lighting, natural lighting, efficient boilers, connection to the campus's chilled water loop, and a sophisticated

building automation Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, light ...

system. Many of the furnishings—including the carpet, insulation, counters, and furniture—were made from recycled materials. All water fixtures are highly efficient, including waterless urinals and low-flow, self-closing faucets.

Reclaimed water Water reclamation is the process of converting Sewage, municipal wastewater or sewage and Industrial wastewater treatment, industrial wastewater into water that can be reused for a variety of purposes. It is also called wastewater reuse, water re ...

is used in the toilets and for irrigation purposes. Offices on the side of the ocean are cooled by ventilation system of air from operable windows.John Johnson
"A 'Green' Building Grows on a UC Campus: Recyclables shape environmentally friendly Bren school. From waterless urinals to skylights, the project could be a 'bellwether.'"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', April 19, 2002.

Platinum rating

The

United States Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), founded in 1993, is a private 501(c)(3), membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and operation. USGBC is best known for its development of t ...

gave Bren Hall one of its first Platinum ratings under

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a Green building certification systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...

1.0's New Construction category. On August 4, 2009, it was announced that Bren Hall had become the first building in the nation to receive a second Platinum award, this time in the category Existing Buildings –– Operations & Maintenance.

2010 ceiling collapse

On October 30, 2010, a two-ton piece of the ceiling collapsed into the building lobby. The building was evacuated, and all suspended ceilings (some of which were also found to be coming loose) were removed before the building reopened after several days. The University later reported that defective ceiling suspension anchors were at fault, and said there was no connection between the ceiling problems and the building's sustainable design."Bren’s Collapse Points to Construction Faults"
''

Daily Nexus The ''Daily Nexus'' is a campus newspaper at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). ''Daily Nexus'' lineage can be traced to the Santa Barbara State College student newspaper, ''The Eagle'', of the 1930s. After the college becam ...

'', February 15, 2011.

References

External links

Greening Bren Hall
{{UCSB University of California, Santa Barbara buildings and structures Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum certified buildings