The Minnesota Orchestra has announced that Orchestra Hall, its main performance venue, has been awarded LEED O+M v4 Silver Certification, establishing new sustainable standards to enhance audience and musician comfort and optimize energy efficiency. The orchestra says that Orchestra Hall is the first performing arts center in the country to receive the LEED Silver designation. Following a 2014 expansion and reshaping of Orchestra Hall’s lobby spaces, the orchestra completed a comprehensive retro-commissioning, energy consumption, and mechanical engineering study that benchmarked core categories within LEED O+M guidelines to improve energy and resource performance. The study recommended strategies that resulted in a projected 35 percent annual energy reduction. Sustainable outcomes include more effective air filtration for improved indoor air quality, a stormwater retention tank, native landscaping, low-flow plumbing fixtures, optimized mechanical systems, LED lamps, a 58 percent waste diversion rate, 100 percent of durable goods recycled, advanced thermal controls, and green cleaning chemicals. “The LEED certification is a game-changer in terms of optimizing Orchestra Hall’s energy use and its environmental impact,” said Minnesota Orchestra President and CEO Michelle Miller Burns. “The impetus for this project came from a committee of staff, musicians, and board members.”
Posted November 19, 2019
