The city of Greensburg, Kansas, USA, has witnessed hurricanes and now renewal in their aim to create a sustainable city. Find below an abstract of an article about Greensburg from Business Week, May 5. A link to the full story can be found after the abstract. Greensburg GreenTown forms part of the Sustainable Cities Network. More information about this site can be viewed at http://www.greensburggreentown.org/.

NEWS ABSTRACT:
The Greening of Greensburg
As President Bush pays a visit, all eyes are on a town that’s rebuilding itself after being almost destroyed by a tornado
by David Sokol
INNOVATION & DESIGN

May 4 marks the one-year anniversary of the EF-5 tornado that destroyed most of Greensburg, Kansas. As part of a town-wide green initiative, students from the state’s two architecture schools are lending a hand in helping residents rebuild using sustainable design principles and techniques.

University of Kansas architecture professor Dan Rockhill’s well-known Studio 804 is working with the nonprofit Greensburg Art Center to develop Sustainable Prototype, a versatile prefabricated building that deploys multiple passive and active sustainable design techniques. Meanwhile, a group from Kansas State University is dotting the small city with 10-foot pods—a project called Greensburg Cubed—that promise to educate locals about the ecologically responsible design to which municipal leaders have committed in a variety of high-profile announcements.

The University of Kansas’ contribution was constructed by Studio 804, a design-build program at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning that has a longstanding commitment to teaching economic and ecological sustainability. The 1,600-square-foot facility will contain wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, and other green technologies and could be the first building in Kansas to earn a LEED Platinum rating, according to Rockhill. The building was prefabricated in Lawrence, Kansas, using reclaimed materials from a retired storehouse at the state’s Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant. Modules were then trucked to Greensburg, where class members assembled them over the course of several weeks. In addition to a multipurpose room, kitchen, and office space, the facility will house the town’s new 5.4.7 Art Center, opening May 4. The building was designed to be a community center for the ravaged town, Rockhill says. “These people are victims, they lost everything,” he explains. “We seized the opportunity to contribute.”

To read the full story visit http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2008/id2008055_355693.htm?chan=innovation_architecture_top+stories