Upstate’s Nappi Wellness Institute earns LEED Gold status

SYRACUSE — The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded the Nappi Wellness Institute, which is part of Upstate Medical University, a LEED Gold designation. It’s the second-highest national rating for green buildings, the health system announced on April 3. LEED, which is short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the most widely used green-building rating system in the world. Nappi earned 64 points to secure the Gold designation. The Nappi Wellness Institute — which opened June 2, 2023 — is located at 725 E. Adams St., across from the Upstate Cancer Center. It’s a five-story, 209,615-square-foot building that is home to many of Upstate’s ambulatory services. The institute earned a Gold certification last month by adhering to prerequisites and credits during design and construction. They address carbon, energy, water, waste, transportation, materials, health, and indoor environmental quality, Upstate Medical University said. Projects go through a verification and review process and are then awarded points that correspond to a level of LEED certification. “We are pleased that we achieved the Gold certification because it demonstrates the commitment of SUNY as well as the University to sustainability and constructing green buildings,” Douglas Joseph, interim assistant VP for facilities, said in the Upstate announcement. Upstate cites officials who say LEED provides a framework for healthy, efficient, and cost-saving green buildings and LEED-certified buildings are critical to addressing climate change. The health system added that LEED “looks at the big picture,” factoring in all critical elements that work together to create the best building possible. The goal of LEED is to create better buildings that reduce contribution to global climate change, enhance individual human health, protect and restore water resources, protect and enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services, promote sustainable and regenerative material cycles, and enhance community quality of life.

Building features

The Nappi Wellness Institute building has more than 26 features that helped earn the certification, ranging from air-quality control to sourcing local construction materials to installing bicycle storage and showers for staff. The building scored points for using low-emitting materials including sealants, paints, flooring materials and composites, using green and recycled materials, LED lighting with automated controls, and indoor air-quality management. The facility is a smoke-free building that also features low water consumption plumbing fixtures and green cleaning practices. One of the sustainable practices “noticeable to patients at Nappi” is daylight harvesting, which according to Tim O’Hara, Upstate’s director of physical plant, automatically adjusts the indoor lighting based on exterior light entering the building. All of Nappi’s waiting room areas were built along exterior walls, where they’re “bathed in natural light.” Automated shades also help to reduce the building’s heating and cooling loads, Upstate said. “We’re not using extra energy by having the lights super bright all the time, and using that exterior light to our benefit,” O’Hara said in the announcement. “With all the public spaces on the exterior, it really gives that natural light aspect to the building, which I think for patients it makes it a lot more pleasant and enjoyable than being boxed in when you’re waiting.” Both Joseph and O’Hara said Upstate plans to keep up the standards for the Gold certification going forward.