Kent State’s architecture program will help lead a new effort focused on making buildings and cities more environmentally friendly.
KSU, the University of Cincinnati and Heidelburg University will head up the Greater Ohio Living Architecture Center, or “GOLA.” It’s one of the first four centers of its kind in the country. GOLA will study the impact of growing plant ecosystems on buildings.
Kent professor Reid Coffman will lead GOLA. He says the research will give students professional experience while also helping cities become more sustainable.
“This allows faculty and students to basically engage a subject matter through activities and course work that gives them an opportunity to kind of make society much closer to an ecological environment.”
Kent State was picked for GOLA at the sixteenth annual Cities Alive convention in New York City.
