Overview

Mithun, Incorporated, designed this university complex in Richland Township, PA, north of Pittsburgh, to include four new buildings supporting Chatham University's Falk School of Sustainability. The Eden Hall Campus, located about 19 miles north of the school's main Shadyside Campus, occupied 388 acres on either side of Ridge Road in a rural part of Allegheny County. The complex had a Gibsonia, PA, mailing address.

Building History

Completed in 2016, Chatham's Eden Hall Campus conisted of an existing farm and the new buildings designed by Mithun. The Mithun website described the project set on 30 acres: "New buildings include the Field Lab, Dairy Barn Café, Orchard Residence Hall and Esther Barazzone Center with dining commons, multi-use auditorium, classrooms and offices. Site development includes an amphitheatre, “mosaic field” demonstration landscape, hoop house and constructed wetlands for onsite wastewater treatment." (See Mithin, Incorporated.com, "Net Positive Campus Chatham University Eden Hall Campus Richland Township, PA," accessed 09/28/2021.)

Mithun sought to create new, energy-efficient and low-impact building standards and processes at the Eden Hall complex. It wrote on its website: "The 'new farm' is an inspiring landscape supporting health and wellness while advancing an important idea – that suburban land can be developed as a net positive resource for urban areas. The campus generates more energy than it uses, is a water resource, produces food and recycles nutrients, and supports habitat and healthy soils while building eco-literacy." (See Mithin, Incorporated.com, "Net Positive Campus Chatham University Eden Hall Campus Richland Township, PA," accessed 09/28/2021.)

Building Notes

As the buildings accommodated the Falk School of Sustainability, Mithun and the clients set lofty goals for the complex. It achieved LEED Platinum certifcation. It also followed the "Living Building Challenge" environmental framework established by the International Living Furure Institute. It also consulted the standard established by the International Living Future Institute with its Zero-Energy Certification.

PCAD id: 24164