Staff and Student Garage

The new Rush staff and student parking garage at Paulina and Flournoy streets opened on June 1, 2009, making it both the first building to be completed as part of the Rush Transformation and a vivid example of Rush's commitment to environmental sustainability. From the beginning, sustainable design has been one of the guiding principles of the transformation of the Rush campus.

Part of a building that also will include the Medical Center's new power plant, the new seven-floor garage has 795 parking spaces and was built for Rush staff and students. In addition to accommodating the transportation needs of Rush staff, the new garage incorporates numerous sustainable design features in order to minimize its impact on the environment.

Rush is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the East Tower and Orthopedic Ambulatory Building, both currently under construction (the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization, awards LEED certification to buildings with high environmental standards). Although garages can't receive LEED certification, the Rush garage has so many "green" features that it could receive a gold (second highest) LEED certification if it were eligible.

The garage includes the following "green" features:

• Vines growing along north and west walls.
• Rain water that falls on the upper deck of the garage and top of the power plant will be filtered and diverted into tanks in the building to be used for mechanical processes.
• The process water used in the air filtration system in the East Tower will be diverted to the parking garage and central energy plant to be used in the building's cooling towers.
• Gen X elevators that capture and reuse energy generated going down and are lubrication-free, so they don't use oil.
• A park outside the garage at the corner of Ashland Avenue and Flournoy Street doubles as a green roof for the underground loading dock.
• Landscaping along Flournoy Street with indigenous plants that need less water than conventional lawn grass. The curb is cut at each of the planters so that rain water flowing down the gutter will flow into the planters.
• Reusable materials, including steel from northern Indiana; concrete made from recycled content; and low volatile organic compound adhesives, paintings, sealings and coatings.
• Recycling 90 to 95 percent of the garage's construction waste.
• Recycling bins throughout the garage.
• Low-flow plumbing fixtures throughout the building.

The opening of the new garage will mark an important step forward in the transformation of the Rush campus in order to provide even better care for the Medical Center's patients, and to do so in an environmentally sustainable way.

For more information about the other changes under way at Rush, visit the Rush Transformation home page. If you would like to contact the Rush Office of Transformation, send an e-mail to: facilities_questions@rush.edu.