The Living Village is a key component of Yale Planetary Solutions, a university-wide initiative that works to advance Yale’s commitment to generating innovative ideas in support of a thriving planet. The complex is equipped with numerous advanced systems that move beyond sustainability to enhance and restore natural systems surrounding it. 

Wastewaterwill be processed onsite and reused for toilets and to irrigate the surrounding grounds. Stormwater will be managed onsite and either repurposed — for laundry and irrigation — or absorbed into the ground rather than allowed to run off into the city’ storm sewers. Solar shingles covering the roofs will combine with canopies of solar panels along the complex’s periphery to provide about 10% more energy than the building demands. The surplus will help power other buildings on the Yale grid.

“Every inch is full of intention,” McInnis said. “Every decision guided by respect for our planet and our community.” 

The Living Village’s primary building, Carol B. Bauer Hall, stands adjacent to the Sterling Divinity Quadrangle, the historic hub of the YDS campus. Its three sides meet the quadrangle’s northern wing to form a plaza.

The building is named for Carol Bauer, a longtime chaplain at Norwalk Hospital who has helped train numerous YDS students as they pursued careers as hospital chaplains. She and her husband, George Bauer, a business executive, investment banker, and property developer, made the single largest donation to the Living Village project. Just prior to this week’s blessing and ribbon ceremony, the building was officially dedicated, and a plaque was unveiled memorializing the Bauers’ generosity. 

Bauer Hall, which houses about 50 divinity students, is clad in reddish-brown terra-cotta tiles that evoke the quadrangle’s brick facades. Its entrance portals are covered in white terra cotta, a nod to the quadrangle’s white trim. (Terra cotta requires less carbon to produce than brick does.) 

Rooms line just one side of the building’s corridors, a design choice that allows natural light to flood the halls through floor-to-ceiling windows that face the plaza below. The furniture is crafted from red oak trees that had grown on the complex’s 4.5-acre property before construction began. 

The primary architectural firm was the Boston-based Bruner/Cott, a leader in environmentally responsible architecture.

Jason Jewhurst, a partner with the firm and the project’s principal architect, said that the Living Village affirms his belief that, at its best, architecture does more than solve technical challenges or hit performance targets.

“It fosters belonging,” he said. “It creates wellbeing and purpose. It makes a vision of a better future tangible in the present. And it shows that history of place and legacy then thrive alongside innovation and stewardship.”

The village’s grounds feature small gardens, an orchard of fruit and nut trees, and a water sculpture designed by students from the Yale School of Architecture. The expansive Campbell Terrace on the building’s east side offers striking views of East Rock, a celebrated New Haven landmark. Next to the terrace, an amphitheater can accommodate events and performance — and provides another spot from which to enjoy the view. 

Sheena Lefaye Crews, who is a Master of Divinity student and among the first residents of the Living Village, recalled the warm welcome she received when she first arrived at the building in August, when Sterling and other school staff members carried her bags to her room. 

“From the beautiful wooden floors, to the ceiling, to the oversized window, and even the bottle of plant-based dish soap on the kitchen counter, my studio apartment seemed to await the warm energy of a first-year masters of divinity student,” Crews said. “After my last bag entered the room, Dean Sterling turned to me and said, ‘Sheena, welcome home.’”

The ceremony concluded with a whimsical approach to the standard ribbon cutting. Rather than snip a ribbon in two, ceremony participants mended one together out of seven segments, each a different color drawn from the surrounding plant life. Inspired by the flower imagery used by the Living Building Challenge, the individual ribbon segments, or “petals,” each representing one of the LBC’s core performance areas: place, materials, water, energy, and health and happiness, equity, and beauty. 

Prior to the ribbon mending, divinity student Spencer Beckman reflected on the day’s importance.

“In the face of an ecological crisis, Yale Divinity has decided to care about creation, to build in a way that supports the flourishing of our human neighbors and our non-human neighbors, to steward our Earth’s resources more carefully,” said Beckman, who is president of YDS student government. “… And so, while much healing remains undone, today is a day of rejoicing. A day when we celebrate a beautiful building with an equally beautiful purpose. A day when we honor all of our neighbors.”