Illustration by DeToto When Stanford's Green Dorm opens later this decade — assuming the board approves the plan — it won't be just another sustainability showpiece from a fancy firm. Many of its innovations will come from students. The school offers several courses on green design, and class projects will show up in the blueprints. One student created a system of skylights and floor cutouts to illuminate hallways. Another's findings on low-flow showerheads will be implemented campuswide, saving 9 million gallons of water a year. When the dorm is finished, the engineers will make way for sociologists and economists, who will study the residents' eco-impact. But the project isn't only about efficiency — after all, if no one wants to live there, who would the researchers observe? So designers also plan to make it the swankiest pad on campus. The carbon-sequestering roof lawn sure won't hurt.
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