On the edge of the Iowa River, the first building striving for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification on the UI campus is nearing completion.

The Beckwith Boathouse will open its doors to the public at 2 p.m. Friday. The building is also the first campus facility to be named solely after a female benefactor.

“[The boathouse] has a gorgeous modern design with a beautiful view of the Iowa River,” said Elizabeth Christiansen, the director of the UI Office of Sustainability.

The 20,000-square-foot Beckwith Boathouse sets the precedent for environmentally certified buildings on campus, a requirement all upcoming construction projects must fulfill in the future.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is an independent certification program that provides guidelines for sustainable buildings. Officials must consider a slew of factors when building such a certified building, including energy efficiency and material selection.

The university is waiting for a review and audit of the boathouse for the certification, and officials expect the building to garner at least a silver ranking.

Buildings achieving the status are ranked as Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum.

The design of the boathouse took Gold requirements and blended them with traditional construction methods to produce a very efficient yet functional building, project manager Brian Keating wrote in an e-mail.

Many aspects of the boathouse make it an environmentally friendly building.

The boathouse utilizes a geothermal heating and cooling system. Windows are strategically placed to let the maximum natural light in, a technique called “daylight harvesting,” said Senior Associate Director of Athletics Jane Meyer.

“The lights only run when they have to,” she said. “If there is enough sunlight coming in, the lights automatically dim.”

Lower operating and maintenance costs are another benefit of the new building.

The boathouse is also considered to be “flood-proof” — the entire first floor can sustain high water levels without much damage. That level of the boathouse consists of concrete floors and concrete-block walls.

All mechanical and electrical services are located on the second floor, and the pumps in the tank room can be removed if flooding is anticipated.

After water levels subside, the first floor would need very little recovery work.

“After a flood, we [would] just need to clean, sanitize, and repaint,” Meyer said.

The Beckwith Boathouse was projected to cost $6.2 million when construction began in October 2008. As development draws to a close, the final cost of the project will be $7.3 million because of the higher-than-expected cost of flood proofing, according to Keating.

The UI Foundation received more than $1.7 million in donations to fund the boathouse. Both UI Recreational Services and Beckwith, a UI alumna, provided $1 million each. The remaining cost was covered by the athletics department.

Seven more UI construction projects are also slated to meet the cetification requirements in the near future.

The next UI building designed to meet the standards is the Institute for Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation Development, which is set to open Homecoming weekend.