George W. Bush Presidential Center Celebrates LEED Platinum

DALLAS — A dedication ceremony was held April 25 for the LEED Platinum-certified George W. Bush Presidential Center — home of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and the George W. Bush Institute. The center, located on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, is the first presidential library to achieve this certification under new construction.

Five presidents — George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter — were present to show their support for the facility, along with several SMU students, which President Bush light-heartedly called “awesome” in his dedication speech.

“The beautiful building has my name above the door, but it belongs to you. It honors the cause we serve and the country we share. For eight years, you gave me the honor of serving as your president, and today I’m proud to dedicate this center to the American people,” Bush said at the dedication.

He also thanked the project’s construction team, which consisted of New York-based Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP as the architect and Dallas-based Manhattan Construction Group as the general contractor.

The center is located on 23 acres of land, and all aspects of it are inherently green. It features green roofing systems to reduce heating and cooling demands, solar panels to produce electricity and hot water and rainwater recycling that will meet 50 percent of the irrigation need for the native Texas landscaping. It was also constructed with several regionally sourced building materials, including Texas Cordova cream limestone, Permian sea coral limestone, stained pecan wood interior paneling and Texas mesquite hardwood floors.

Freedom Hall is the museum’s focal point. It is a 67-foot-high, 50-by-50-foot Texas Cordova cream limestone lantern-like structure that brings natural daylight into the building. Also featured in Freedom Hall is a 360-degree, high-definition LED media display that showcases the center’s exhibition galleries, which include a full-scale replica of the Oval Office and a Texas rose garden modeled after the one at the White House.

Even the landscaping pays tribute to sustainability. The 15-acre park that surrounds the center features a native Texas landscape. More than 70 percent of the site — including more than 900 trees, 40 of which were transplanted from the Bushes’ Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas — was planted to restore the land’s native habitat. It features prairie and savannah planted with five drought-tolerant grasses, as well as a wildflower meadow filled with Texas wildflowers such as bluebonnets.

President Bush believes the center is a good representation of his administration and will provide future Americans with educational opportunities.

“When future generations come to this library and study this administration, they’re going to find out that we stayed true to our convictions,” Bush said at the dedication. “The same principles define the mission of the presidential center. I’m retired from politics — happily so, I might add — but not from public service. We’ll use our influences to help more children to start life with a quality education, to help more Americans find jobs and economic opportunity, to help more countries overcome poverty and disease, to help more people in every part of the world live in freedom.”

The 226,500-square-foot center opened to the public on May 1.