Good things come in threes. In Penn’s case, it’s three LEED Gold-certified building projects.

The Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) has announced that the Weiss Pavilion at Franklin Field has been awarded a LEED Gold certification, established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

At 52,000 square feet, the Weiss Pavilion fills in the north arcade of the University’s famous football stadium, housing a new intercollegiate athletic weight training room, a recreation fitness center and retail space. The project’s innovative combination of excavation and infill earned it a Gold-level certification with sustainable aspects, such as:

- Approximately 95 percent of demolition and construction waste diverted from disposal in landfills by salvaging, reusing, and recycling materials

- Excavated soil from the site utilized in the construction of the landforms at Penn Park

- High efficiency restroom fixtures reduce water use by up to 30 percent

- High performance building systems optimize energy performance

- A green cleaning plan implements sustainable cleaning products and methods for better indoor air quality

“Without increasing the building’s footprint, we were able to recognize the importance of preservation and apply adaptive reuse practices to previously underutilized space in an existing iconic Penn facility,” says Anne Papageorge, vice president of FRES. 

Designing “green,” which entails investing in sustainable renovations and new construction, is one of five basic strategies outlined in Penn’s Climate Action Plan, a roadmap to guide the University’s environmental efforts. 

The Weiss Pavilion joins the Music Building on 34th St. and Joe’s Café in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall to create Penn’s LEED Gold-certified trio. Penn’s other LEED certifications include the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine (Silver) and Morris Arboretum Horticulture Center (Platinum).