Sleek Green Building Nears Completion at U. of Southern Maine

A new building for the Muskie School of Public Service is nearing completion. (Chronicle photograph by Lawrence Biemiller)

Portland, Me.— On the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus, construction crews are finishing a striking, glassy new building for the university’s Muskie School of Public Service and Osher Lifelong Learning Center.

Designed by Koetter Kim & Associates, the four-story building is expected to earn gold-level certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Among other features, it has geothermal heating and cooling—relying on wells drilled down 1,500 feet—and a vegetative roof from which excess rainwater will be collected for recycling. It is due to open later this summer.