ts double-paned, argon-filled glass windows stay cool even when it’s 90 degrees. Its white-sealed roof reflects sunlight. It features low-energy lighting fixtures, and office lights turn themselves off when no one’s inside.

The University of Miami’s nearly completed $90 million Clinical Research Building will not only be home to important clinical trials and medical research that promises to speed discoveries from the lab to the bedside, but it is also the first in a coming wave of environmentally friendly buildings at the Miller School of Medicine that will employ energy-saving “green” technologies.

“You can see that this is a big facility, the largest ever built by the University of Miami,” President Donna E. Shalala says of the 15-story, 350,000-square-foot high-rise. “But its environmental footprint is much smaller than other buildings of this size.”

Among the building’s eco-friendly features:

• a raised floor system for better indoor air quality and energy efficiency;

• floor vents that reduce ductwork and improve air flow;

• carpet and other internal materials made from recycled and recyclable materials;

• a chilled water loop system for cooling.

The next three buildings planned for the medical campus—the Biomedical Research Institute, the new University Hospital, and a support facility—also will embrace many of the same energy-efficient concepts as the Clinical Research Building.