The University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Engineering is pleased to announce that it has been awarded WELL Certification at the Gold level for Kiewit Hall by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI).
The privately funded, $115 million Kiewit Hall, which opened in January 2024, is the academic hub for engineering education and is located at 17th and Vine Streets on Lincoln’s City Campus. The 182,080 square foot building features state-of-the-art classrooms and teaching labs; Engineering Student Services; the Design Hub, a high-tech bilevel design/build space for all engineering students; Kiewit Cafe (featuring a Mediterranean-based menu) and houses the Dean's Office and the Durham School’s Construction programs.
Kiewit Hall is the only building in the University of Nebraska system and among an elite group of collegiate engineering facilities nationally to be both LEED Gold certified by the U.S. Green Building Council and WELL Gold certified.
Created through seven years of rigorous research and development working with leading physicians, scientists, and industry professionals, the WELL Building Standard is a performance-based certification system that marries best practices in design and construction with evidence-based scientific research. Kiewit Hall earned this distinction based on 10 categories of building performance: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind and Community. IWBI is the leading authority for transforming health and well-being with its people-first approach to buildings, organizations and communities.
“We opened Kiewit Hall in 2024 as the academic hub for the College of Engineering with the goal to better prepare the next generation of students for the state’s workforce,” said Lance C. Pérez, Fred Hunzeker Dean of Engineering. “Kiewit Hall has exceeded our expectations not only in how we teach and learn, but also in knowing that our students, faculty, staff, and others are experiencing a facility that’s truly focused on their health and well-being.”
Some of the features that enabled Kiewit Hall to achieve its WELL and LEED Certified Gold ratings include:
- The design of healthy entryways keeps contaminants out of the building through specific placement of entrance doors, special flooring and ventilation.
- The building’s monumental stairs encourage active living and movement, as do wide hallways, active furniture and its overall ergonomic design.
- Kiewit’s acoustics plan features five primary zones: loud, quiet, mixed, circulation, and hybrid; sound reducing surfaces and sound barriers are also installed throughout.
- The biophilic design leveraged the strategy of Prospect and Refuge to increase occupants’ connectivity and support various relational behaviors with wide-open spaces, smaller alcoves, seating groups and enclosed huddle rooms.
- Access to daylight and outdoor views is equitably distributed throughout, complemented by daylight-harvesting systems that reduce reliance on artificial lighting while supporting circadian rhythms—an important factor in enhancing cognitive performance, mood, and sleep quality.
- Nutritional enhancements include whole grains, fresh produce and proper eating portions at Kiewit Cafe, as well as healthy options located at eye-level in the vending machines.
- The facility achieves a 20.8 percent reduction in energy cost compared to the ASHRAE 90.1 baseline through integrated system design and energy optimization.
- A neutral-air active chilled beam system is served by a Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS), reducing overall air volume and fan energy compared to conventional VAV systems.
- Drinking water is tested to maintain high quality and touchless handwashing; low flow fixtures provide high-quality water with an overall reduction in water use, and the site has an estimated 59 percent reduction in outdoor water use over baseline requirements.
- All primary air handling units were designed as 100 percent outdoor-air DOAS units to maximize ventilation effectiveness and occupant health.
- Carbon neutral carpet was installed, estimated to result in the retirement of 52 metric tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 12 passenger cars not driven for a year, 5,851 gallons of gasoline not consumed, or 10 households’ worth of electricity use avoided for one year.
“Kiewit Hall’s achievement of both WELL Building Standard Gold and LEED Gold certification represents our belief that the most successful learning environments are those that perform exceptionally for both people and the planet. From the earliest stages of planning and design, our team worked alongside Ballinger and the College of Engineering in an integrated process, identifying new policies, operational practices, and design strategies to support these certification goals,” said Heather Keele, architect and principal with Clark & Enersen. “LEED Gold recognizes the building’s commitment to environmental stewardship including energy efficiency, water conservation, responsible material selection, and long-term operational performance. WELL Gold complements that achievement by placing students, faculty, staff, and visitors at the center of the design. We are grateful to have been involved in such an innovative project.”
WELL is grounded in evidence-based research that explores the connection between the buildings where individuals spend approximately 90 percent of their time, and the health and well-being impacts on the people inside these buildings. To be awarded WELL Certification by IWBI, Kiewit Hall underwent rigorous testing and a final evaluation carried out by third parties to ensure it met all WELL Certified Gold performance requirements.
