News & Alerts

Washington University in St. Louis has been awarded Gold status accreditation from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), renewing certification at the same level as its last certification in 2018, though on a more rigorous version of the reporting tool.

New York-based architectural firm Weiss/Manfredi has been selected to lead the design of the new Arts & Sciences building, set to be constructed at the heart of the Danforth Campus. The firm’s selection marks one of the first major milestones in the project, which was announced in December 2021 during the launch of the Arts & Sciences Strategic Plan.

Each year, billions of birds pass through the United States on their way to seasonal destinations. And each year, these birds are among the 600,000 birds that die after colliding with buildings. Cities like St. Louis pose a disproportionate risk to birds, as the geography, developmental spread and glow of night time lights converge to create significant obstacles to these long-distance travelers.  

Washington University in St. Louis plans to construct a new state-of-the-art building for Arts & Sciences, the largest school on the Danforth Campus, announced Chancellor Andrew D. Martin. The university’s Board of Trustees was advised of the administration’s commitment for the new building, estimated to be between 90,000 and 120,000 square feet. This project will move forward through the board approval process. The building and the surrounding landscape will create a new quad at the heart of campus, west of Olin Library and north of Graham Chapel.

The League of American Bicyclists, the premier grassroots advocacy organization encouraging better bicycling and protecting the rights of people who bike, has honored the WashU Danforth campus with a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly University award in recognition of the institution’s achievements in promoting and enabling safe, accessible bicycling on campus.

Five buildings on the Danforth Campus at Washington University in St. Louis achieved the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) highest green building certification, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum.

Washington University in St. Louis’ East End Transformation, the iconic redesign of the eastern end of the Danforth Campus, is on the cover of February’s Architect magazine. The publication is the official journal of the American Institute of Architects, which is widely considered the “voice” of the architectural profession.

A middle-American Oxbridge, the campus of Washington University in St. Louis is staunchly Collegiate Gothic, all nested quads and pink granite buildings. It’s often hard to tell where one building ends and another begins. But traverse the campus to its far eastern edge and this monotony starts to let up: Cloistered space grows porous, and the chisel-and-hammer articulation of stone gives way to lighter building materials.

The U.S. Green Building Council recently awarded Sumers Recreation Center its highest certification: LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum. Sustainability was baked into the building from its very beginning, and the certification demonstrates the level of commitment Washington University in St. Louis has when it comes to designing buildings to reduce carbon emissions, conserve water, support the health of inhabitants, responsibly source materials and more.