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Sea Fox
Continuing its leadership in campus sustainability, College of the Atlantic breaks ground on new housing with a public celebration
 at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 14. Named the Katherine W. Davis Student Residence Village, the innovative complex adds 51 beds to campus while nearly eliminating any environmental impact by using the most energy-efficient technology available.
Particular care has been taken to achieve an exceptional level of thermal integrity and air tightness in the residences. A super-insulated design minimizes heat loss, wood pellet fuel reduces the impact of the heating season, while recycled materials offsets the impact of initial construction.
The housing, designed by Coldham & Hartman Architects of Amherst, Mass., consists of six eight-to-nine-bed houses, arranged in three duplex dwellings. The buildings overlook Frenchman Bay, at the south end of campus. These new residences will increase on-campus student housing to 150 beds, allowing about half of the student population to live on campus. Currently, only first-year students are guaranteed beds on campus.
The sustainability of the Davis Student Residence Village is evident in every detail. The buildings will have in-floor radiant
 heating, walls and ceilings that are super-insulated using recycled materials, and frequent thermal breaks to eliminate heat loss. Within the buildings, available light will be maximized to reduce electricity use and the gray water from showers will be recycled to preheat water going into the hot water system. Similarly, an energy recovery central ventilation unit will preheat fresh air coming into the building during the heating season-to name just a few of the residences' green innovations.
Because COA believes that learning never stops, each unit includes its own meter, so students will know how much energy and water they are using. Additionally, the buildings are situated so as to enhance connection and discussion among students. Created as three individual structures, each with two adjoining units, the houses will include kitchens as well as common living, recreation and study areas. Updating the Maine shingle style tradition, the cottages will be sided in a combination of fiber cement clapboards and northern white cedar shingles.
The cost of the housing, estimated at $4.6 million, is being met by a challenge grant of $2.5 million from the Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation in honor of Kathryn W. Davis. Most of this challenge grant has already been met by anonymous donors. COA plans to open the village in the fall of 2008.
Mingling students from Maine to Montenegro, the buildings reflect Kathryn Davis' lifelong focus on enhancing international understanding. "I am deeply honored to have this excellent building named for me," said Davis when the grant announcement was made last year. "To have such an environmentally-advanced building be part of an academic institution means that each of the green advances will be amplified by COA's students-those who live within the village and those who share meals and friendships with their occupants."
Founded in 1969, College of the Atlantic is a small, interdisciplinary college on the Maine coast awarding a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Philosophy in Human Ecology. This focus integrates knowledge from all academic disciplines and personal experience to investigate and improve the relationships between humans and our social and natural communities. The collaborative, experiential nature of study ensures that students' quest for scientific, spiritual, social and artistic knowledge comes with the depth of an individualized curriculum. Education is active, hands-on and often through original sources. Students are fully involved in the community, in governance, and in the world.
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