Thursday, October 1, 2026
The future is now for Nassau Community College in Garden City, and it’s taking shape in a $40 million life sciences building under construction on the north side of campus.
The 74,000-square-foot facility, expected to be complete in the spring of 2012, overflows with environmentally friendly building technologies in an effort to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
“The college signed what’s called the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment about three years ago,” said Joseph Muscarella, the college’s vice president for administration and planning. “One of the stipulations when you sign the agreement is that every new building and major renovation comply with U.S. LEED regulations … Part of it benefits you directly, and part of it benefits society overall.”
The Climate Commitment requires that colleges do all in their power to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions –– caused when fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas are burned to generate electricity. The emissions, scientists believe, are a major contributor to global warming. By building “greener,” Nassau Community College will reduce its electric use –– and hence its greenhouse-gas emissions.
The college’s future home of the chemistry and nursing departments almost seems to be alive. The many systems that will control the flow of water, air and light throughout the building will act much like the human body, constantly retaining, filtering and recycling resources for further use.
On the building’s exterior, recycled copper panels will be locked together over layers of rubber and fiberglass, making the building impenetrable to water –– and the mold that comes with it. All of the rainwater collected on the roof will be funneled into four massive cisterns located 30 feet underground. The rainwater will be used to irrigate the landscaping.
“Using recycled materials doesn’t necessarily benefit the college, but the country and our environment and our community; instead of more mining and more trees being cut down, we use scrap metals instead,” Muscarella said. “We will use less water. We pay the water bill, and now were not going pay the water bill for the irrigation system.”
Each floor will be lined with massive windows, which will provide views of the campus and the courtyard within the U-shaped building. Not to mention the classrooms, offices and hallways will be constantly flooded with natural light, saving energy and reducing lighting costs.
On the roof, a massive machine will gather heat or cold air that is exhausted from the labs and cycle it back into the building. The roofing materials also comply with Energy Star ratings and reduce heat.
“A large portion of what LEED gives you in the way of points is the heating and cooling system in the building,” Muscarella said. “The more efficient the heating and cooling system, the less energy you use. We pay for the energy we use. So the more efficient the mechanical equipment in the building, the less we pay over the lifespan of that building.”
All of the materials being used in the building, from paints to adhesives, are low in volatile organic compounds –– gases that are given off over time that can cause eye, nose and throat irritation, as well as a host of liver, kidney and central nervous system disorders.
An educational kiosk in the lobby will provide visitors with energy-conservation information, as well as earn a point for LEED certification. Even the trees that stood on the site before construction have been dug up and relocated to a nursery; they will be returned upon the project’s completion.
Green technology “is the wave of the future,” said Reginald Tuggle, Nassau Community College’s vice president for marketing and communications. “Why not be a part of that future? Everyone thinks that over time it will reduce actual facility cost … I think it also says to the world that Nassau Community College is forward thinking in terms of its future projects.”
The new facility’s first-floor classrooms will be available for any NCC class. The chemistry department, one of the college’s most popular programs, will be housed on the second floor and will boast six laboratories. And the nursing department will occupy the third floor.
In contrast to the current nursing facility, the new space will be dramatically larger and include the technology that students must master to enter the field. Future nursing students will be able to learn in laboratories that simulate actual hospital rooms, with beds and mannequins for practice. One lab will feature a separate observation room where a professor will be able to control a mannequin remotely to make it project different symptoms.
“Here, they will have new equipment, better equipment, working equipment designed to be state-of-the-art,” Muscarella said. “If neighboring hospitals that will potentially employ nursing students come and look, we would expect that they’d be more impressed with the program overall, and hopefully then our students would have a better opportunity to go on with their education or to get a job out of NCC.”
Soon enough, about 1,300 students will be able to reap the benefits of the new facility, but the college isn’t stopping there. Muscarella explained that NCC would continue renovating its facilities and building new ones until the entire campus is as high-tech and environmentally friendly as the life sciences building.
“The life sciences building is going to be a great asset,” said County Executive Edward Mangano, a Republican from Bethpage. “It’s going to help educate our students here today to retain and get jobs in an important sector in our economy. That’s what we’re all about. We want to be able not only to educate people here on Long Island, but also keep them here and provide job opportunities … That life sciences building is going to help advance those goals.”
