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Throughout its 50-year history, one of the largest seminaries in North
America has fulfilled its mission without its own dedicated worship space.
The concept of two wing-like walls stems from the image of praying or
embracing hands. The chapel’s baptismal font uses on-site
condensation—distilled water drawn from the air. |
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It's all
in the Book:
Pasadena's Fuller Theological Seminary Goes Green
by Barbara Crane
Fuller Theological Seminary has long been a moral touchstone for the City
of Pasadena. Today, in addition to educating 5,000 students a year in
theology, psychology and intercultural studies at its seven regional
campuses, the Pasadena institution contributes in both philosophy and
action toward making Pasadena a green city.
Evangelical Christian in its outlook, Fuller professors view God as the
creator of the universe—the creator of both the earth and human beings
together. Recently the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) placed
concern for the poor and the environment on its agenda. The act is
controversial, but is evidence of a growing trend among evangelicals, says
Dr. William Dyrness, a Fuller Seminary Professor of Theology and Culture.
He attributes the burgeoning interest in environmentalism to a younger
generation “coming up in the NAE and insisting that we look at it” and as
a result of concern over the crisis of global warming.
Sustainability is a key word in our work to care for the environment, says
Dr. Glen Stassen, the Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics at
Fuller Seminary. Sustainability means that we should not destroy the
ability of the earth to keep thriving. For example, we are using up oil,
leaving none for the next generation, while at the same time creating
global warming. “Whatever gave us the right to use up all the oil in this
generation, so the next won’t have any?”
Although some see “permission” to exploit the earth as deriving from
scripture, these views are losing ground. Institutions like Fuller
Seminary are in the mainstream of change. The school was founded 60 years
ago to instill traditional evangelicalism with a wider concern for social
issues. Influential and highly revered Fuller Seminary leaders, such as
its fourth president, David Allan Hubbard, taught that God’s concern for
the environment and the poor are based in scripture. Dr. Dyrness
attributes his own interest in the environment to hearing a chapel address
when he was a Fuller theology student in the 1970s. “I vividly recall Dr.
Hubbard telling us we needed to think of a theology of creation and the
way God is concerned about the whole of creation—not just humans,” he
says.
Two LEED-Certified Buildings Mark Campus Entrance
Fuller Seminary is doing more than talking about the responsibility of
human beings to tread lightly on the earth. It is also taking action. When
the school decided to build two buildings that would bookend the south
entrance to the Pasadena campus, it enlisted the aid of William McDonough
& Partners, one of the preeminent green architecture and community design
firms in the nation. McDonough is author of the seminal book CRADLE TO
CRADLE (North Point Press 2002), winner of three Presidential Awards and
has been designed a “Hero of the Planet” by Time Magazine.
“We’re very conscious of living in a desert in Southern California,” says
Howard Wilson, executive vice president of administration at Fuller. He is
overseeing the design and construction of a 51,000-square-foot addition to
the existing library and a planned new worship center. Both will be LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. “We wanted to
build a building that makes a statement about preservation of
resources—that you can still do that with great aesthetics,” he says.
The dual project also was inspired by - and the new library aptly named
after - David Allan Hubbard, who guided Fuller Seminary as president in
the 1970s. “He was a man of unrestricted peripheral vision. He could take
in the world all around him,” Wilson says. As well as being landmark
buildings for the city of Pasadena, environmentally and aesthetically, “as
people walk onto the campus, they will celebrate Hubbard’s vision and
experience the shared values of the institution of both learning and
worship.”
McDonough’s design architect Michelle Amt provided the vision for the
projects, which is being carried out by executive architect Tom Williams,
of Los Angeles-based House & Robertson Architects. The LEED-certified
library was one of the first projects to be permitted by Pasadena under
the city’s green building municipal code requirement. The pre-cast
concrete structure makes use of large windows and closed steel canopies to
create a facade that floats above the plaza and resembles a book that has
been opened to the campus. To make maximum use of natural light, the
building was sited to face east; all reading rooms open to a green space.
The design also incorporates a high level of water efficiency. Good indoor
air quality is achieved with the use of low VOC materials. The original
library, built in 1962, is being renovated to boost energy efficiency and
integrated into the new building.
“The low VOC products help the hundreds of workers on site, in addition to
the people who use the building after it’s constructed,” says Alicia Loh,
project engineer for the general contractor DPR Construction, Inc. LEED-certification
also requires use of recycled materials. “We document the recycled content
of every permanently installed material that goes into the building and
calculate the percentage of recycled material in the project,” she says.
“The city of Pasadena requires that 50% of all construction and demolition
waste is diverted from landfills. At this point in time, we’re diverting
85% from landfills.” The company adheres to a rigorous erosion control
plan to minimize dust and run-off. “As a company, we’re advising clients
to go in a green direction. Even if you’re not using the LEED rating
system, there are many things you can do.”
The Center for Worship and the Arts will be constructed when fundraising
is complete. It will contain even more ambitious LEED-rated features than
the library. Williams terms it “a precious jewel—very compact and very
efficient.” A radiant floor throughout the sanctuary/performance space
boosts energy efficiency. The building will also have a highly refined
controllable daylighting system.
Fuller Seminary successfully inspired green action on several fronts. The
campus won a Rideshare Diamond Award co-awarded by Metro (Los Angeles
County) and the Ventura County Transportation Commission. In addition,
Fuller recently completed 179 units of student housing located near campus
to reduce commuting. Fuller students are playing a role in organizing
green action as well. Due to a student-initiated effort, paper recycling
bins are now located in every office and around the campus.
“To care gently for the environment is ultimately an act of love—a love of
God, of neighbors and of future generations,” says Tim Kelly, director of
the Public Policy Institute at Fuller’s De Pree Leadership Center and
member of the Green Pasadena Leadership Summit advisory board. “It’s not
enough to talk in platitudes. You have to have your feet on the ground.
And when your feet touch the ground, there’s an environment there.”
"We need to understand that the earth and nature are not simply out
there,” says Glen Stassen. “They are something here that God is caring for
daily, and we are part of it. It’s not 'us’ and 'them.’ Our lives depend
on nature.”
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