Kent State Professor Shares Environmental Design Expertise During Akron Radio Station Podcast

Mark Mistur, dean of Kent State University’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design, recently spoke about the architecture building’s energy-efficient resources and ways that the building stays environmentally friendly with WAKR’s Jeanne Destro.

In the Nov. 2 interview, Dean Mistur explained how the building works from the roof down, using different types of natural light to illuminate work spaces inside so that electricity does not always need to be used.

"We have an in-ground geothermal system with numerous, deep wells that go into the ground that provide our heating and cooling,” Mr. Mistur told WAKR. “We collect rain water on a green roof that is then filtered through the building and used as grey water for our toilets.”

According to Dean Mistur, the green roofs do everything from lowering the heat effect on the building to absorbing excess rain water after storms.

"Green roofs can be intensive, thick roofs that have grass or other plants on them that basically is like the ground but on your roof,” Dean Mistur told WAKR. “When the water falls, it not only replenishes and feeds those plant systems, but it filters down through and eventually goes into a storm system or building system as ours does.”

To listen to the full podcast, go to https://www.wakr.net/news/this-week-in-tech/item/163920-this-week-in-tech-with-jeanne-destro-podcast.

For more on Kent State University’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design, go to https://www.kent.edu/caed.