The Georgia Museum of Art is the newest building on campus to become LEED certified.

The museum, which opened its expanded and remodeled building on Jan. 29, 2011, received LEED Gold certification last week — the second highest rating a building can receive.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a green certification process that rates buildings based on their energy and water saving efforts, building material selection, sustainable site development and indoor air quality. The museum is the third building on campus to receive LEED certification, joining Tate II and Building 1516, both of which are certified Gold.

The Georgia Museum of Art recieved LEED certification. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. FILE/The Red & Black

Hillary Brown, director of communications at the Georgia Museum of Art, said the museum staff was excited to hear the new building got the rating it did.

“We’re all environmentally minded people and we wanted to disrupt the environment as little as possible,” she said. “This was a goal for our project from the very beginning.”

Museum staff worked with the Office of University Architects to incorporate sustainability into several aspects of the museum. The expansion was built on an existing parking lot, with 91 percent of the construction waste being salvaged or recycled for use on site or in campus projects. Two 25,000-gallon cisterns were buried near the building to provide water for the museum’s fountain and irrigation for the sculpture garden and lawns, and rain gardens were created to clean runoff from the roof and parking lot. Low flow plumbing fixtures, which will reduce water consumption by 44 percent, were also installed in the building.

Brown said one of the most exciting additions to the museum is the use of natural light in addition to regular lighting in the exhibition halls and corridors. Using natural light in art museums can be difficult because sunlight can damage the artwork, but Brown said the OUA was able to successfully incorporate it into the building’s design.

“It manages to illuminate the galleries; keep the art safe; it’s beautiful and it uses a lot less energy. So it works on every aspect that it possibly could have,” she said.

Brown said the environmentally-friendly additions to the building will help save money on water and energy costs, though she isn’t sure yet how much.

Kevin Kirsche, direct of sustainability at the University, said LEED certification is growing on campus — the Pharmacy South building, Special Collections Library and Visual Arts building are all in the process of becoming LEED certified.

“I think the Georgia Museum of Art is showing their tremendous leadership in valuing sustainable design,” he said.“It’s a growing trend among museums to construct a LEED certified facility that in and of itself is a work of art; that houses art in an inspiring and environmentally responsible manner.”