David Sanders ’09 wanted his senior project to be solid and make a solid difference.
“I’ve written so many papers in my life, I wanted to do something tangible,” said Sanders, a political science major. “That’s why I chose to build the tool shed.”
The new 110-square-foot structure fittingly occupies a corner patch of grass beside Octopus’s Garden. Like the garden, the shed’s all about sustainability and was built with earth-friendly materials and practices.
“My first source of inspiration for this was my stepfather,” Sanders said before giving a presentation to a small crowd Thursday outside McKean House. “A green architect, he built our home in the D.C. area three years ago and incorporated some of the same green building practices I used here.
“Professor Mohammad Mafi was also an inspiration to me, I learned a lot from his green building class.”
The shed, which Sanders started constructing in late March, features south-facing windows for natural light and warmth, earthen plaster siding, salvaged doors and windows, and sustainably grown timber.
Most of wood used is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, meaning it was harvested at the same rate it was grown. The rest of it came from a former stage in Old Chapel.
“The shed also has walls insulated with straw bales,” Sanders said. “Straw is a waste product of grain production and it’s very efficient as insulation.”
Before he leaves Union, headed either for Congressman Paul Tonko’s office or an internship with the Sustainability Institute in South Africa, Sanders will add a rainwater capture system to the shed’s roof. This will trap and store rain, which can then be used to irrigate Octopus’s Garden.
“I’m really pleased with the way this little building turned out,” Sanders said. “There’s so much waste out there, and if we can take this waste and make something new, that’s what being green is all about.”
Sanders’s efforts were supported by a Presidential Green Grant, the Minerva program and the Intellectual Enrichment Fund.
“It really takes a community to accomplish things, and so many people supported David in this,” said Associate Professor of political science Robert Hislope, Sanders's project advisor.