by Pamela Steinbach

“We’re providing a setting that recreates opportunities of benefit to the human body and spirit—while not exploiting the land or excessively disturbing its ecosystems.”
—Luke Gascho, executive director, Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College

In a nature sanctuary near Wolf Lake, Ind., marked by peat bogs, a marl pit and glacial formations, sits the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College. It operates as an ecological field station, and as such, was designed to be a fully sustainable outpost. The two new dorm cottages and combined office and classroom building that make up phase one of Rieth Village, Merry Lea’s Center for Undergraduate Studies, are an inspiring example of LEED-certified building in northeast Indiana.

Luke Gascho, executive director of Merry Lea, and the project’s contractor, Holly Hunter of Hamilton Hunter Builders, Inc., in Fort Wayne, explain how everyone involved addressed challenges and learned together to create a sustainable and efficient building in harmony with the environment.

First, Luke Gascho: “The architects, engineers, landscape architects and wastewater treatment designers worked together as a superb integrated team. I thoroughly enjoyed the interactions, the discussions and the challenges that cut across all the disciplines. The members of the design team listened well to each other and made good systems decisions. The result was an excellent synergy in the design. I was grateful for the ways that Holly Hunter picked up on this synergy and worked well with the design team throughout construction.”

Holly Hunter returns the appreciation. “Luke Gascho was willing to work with people who weren’t as attuned to the LEED experience as he is, so it really became an educational experience on many levels.”

A significant part of that experience involved learning innovative building practices right on the job site. “I think one of my bigger surprises was our percentage of waste recycled,” Holly says. Another big thing for her was the “mind-shift that needs to take place.” While LEED buildings require a whole different design approach, there are also little things to monitor. Holly relates how, on occasion, “I would go to my suppliers and carefully read through all their data sheets, MSDS sheets and so forth, to decipher whether an item met LEED standards.”

In many ways, she found it easier to build green than she first anticipated, and it became easier with experience. “We worked together to resolve issues,” she says, “and because we learned so much, green building is easier for us to do now, and I always encourage others to explore sustainable building approaches. I believe that, with time, green practices will become much more commonplace. There are simple changes that offer more responsible construction solutions at no additional costs.” Luke agrees, saying, “The certification process is quite detailed and sometimes challenging to follow, but the concepts behind the points are excellent.”

How did it turn out? In terms of design and construction, everything came together in Rieth Village to produce a wonderful, exemplary green project. According to Luke, “The college students who study and live in these buildings have a great deal of appreciation for them. They find the buildings comfortable and attractive. They also like the fact that these buildings leave a much smaller footprint on the earth. And the staff who have their offices here 'enjoy the buildings’ high performance.”

Find out for yourself. It’s definitely worth your time to visit the Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center — and Rieth Village, in particular. You can even call ahead and get a tour. Enjoy a nature walk (Merry Lea is also an Indiana state nature preserve) and learn how delightful and energy-efficient a building can be. “If all building projects followed this kind of process, we would use far less energy in construction,” Luke says. “We would also have much less waste as well as buildings that would be considerably more energy-efficient and last longer.”