The Class of 1966 Environmental Center is the exemplar of the environmental and educational mission at Williams College. In pursuit of one of the world’s leading sustainable building certifications, the Living Building Challenge, the building has met ambitious goals that combine energy and water objectives with beauty, equity and healthy building materials.
The building is open to the public and home to the Zilkha Center for the Environment (ZCE) and the Environmental Studies Program. The ZCE helps develop and pursue the college’s sustainability goals, manages Hopkins Memorial Forest, builds connections to local communities, and creates diverse and enriching co-curricular environmental research and education opportunities for students. The Environmental Studies Program is the interdisciplinary, academic home for the major and concentration in Environmental Studies and supports the educational ambition of the college.
As a leading institution of higher learning, we believe it is our mission to demonstrate extraordinary commitment to higher principles and to show that high-performance institutional buildings are possible and practical.
Environmental Center Live Data
To meet our Living Building Challenge goals, all energy used in the building must be generated on site, on an annual net-zero basis.