Amherst College Map & Tours

Search

Table of Contents

Tours

1. Sustainability Tour

   Take a virtual tour highlighting the sustainability features Amherst College has to offer!

   Stops

   1. Office of Sustainability

      The Office of Sustainability serves as a focal point and catalyst for awareness-building, collaboration and action on sustainability issues across campus, facilitating and coordinating sustainability efforts across the curriculum, co-curriculum, and campus operations. The office offers a series of novel sustainability education programs designed to provide students, faculty, and staff with new ways of thinking, collaborating, and problem solving and the skills and knowledge necessary to deal with the sustainability challenges of the 21st century.

   2. Greenway Residence Halls

      The Greenway Residence Halls house approximately 300 students in a variety of room types and include innovative student gathering spaces. The buildings feature radiant heating which requires less electricity and provides better air quality than other forms of heating. The Greenways’ sustainability features include: passive heating and cooling to reduce energy consumption, rainwater harvesting, hot water heat recovery, and high-efficiency appliances.

   3. The Greenway

      The Greenway is a 12-acre natural corridor that runs from Beneski to the Greenway residence halls. The Greenway includes a number of features and amenities including an amphitheater for outdoor concerts and gatherings, numerous places for the campus community to relax, eat, study, and socialize, and a large green space in the heart of campus.

   4. The Science Center

      Opened in 2018, the Science Center is a state-of-the-art facility for student and faculty learning and research. The building was designed with sustainability as a top priority, and is 75% more energy efficient than the average science building. The building features a number of green features including a green roof, solar panels, rainwater capture, and a large rain garden.

      The third floor of the science center provides a great view of the building’s green roof. Located on the south side of the Science center is a large rain garden, an intentionally designated area designed to collect runoff from surrounding hardscape. And the largest campus PV solar array is located on the roof of the science center.

   5. CoGen Plant

      Located on the other side of the train tracks from main campus, the campus CoGen plant produces electricity and steam to help meet the college’s heating and cooling and electricity needs. The college has committed to decarbonizing its energy system by 2030 and is in the process of transitioning the campus energy system from the current fossil fuel based steam system to a low temperature hot water system that will utilize geothermal energy and renewable electricity.

   6. Beneski Earth Sciences Building

      Beneski is home to the college’s natural history museum and the Departments of Geology and Environmental Studies. The museum houses one of the best collections of fossils, minerals, and meteorites in New England. The museum boasts one of the largest collections of dinosaur footprints in the world! Learn more on their website!

   7. Valentine Dining Hall

      Valentine, known as "Val" on campus, is committed to providing the campus community with healthy, sustainable food. Val sources much of the food it serves locally, including from the campus Book and Plow farm, and strives to provide abundant plant-based options. The campus Food Systems Committee works to continue to improve the sustainability of the overall campus food system and dining experience.

   8. The Tread Shed Bike Shop

      The Tread Shed is a campus community run bike shop located in the Cooper garage. The shop provides basic bike maintenance and repair advice, offers workshops and trainings on bike upkeep, has a novel work to own program that fixes up abandoned bicycles for reuse, and helps register bikes on campus.

   9. Inn on Boltwood

      The Inn on Boltwood has welcomed guests to Amherst and the Valley since 1926. The inn is silver LEED certified and features a number of sustainability design features including the implementation of a geothermal ground source heating and cooling system, water-efficient landscaping, energy-efficient plumbing and electrical fixtures, and the use of regionally manufactured materials and materials with recycled content.

   10. Solar Thermal Installations

       Unlike solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, which convert sunlight into electricity, solar thermal systems collect solar energy as heat and use it to heat up water for hot water use in a building. A number of Amherst’s buildings have a solar thermal array on their roof including Hitchcock, Seelye, and Mayo Smith Residence Halls.

   11. PVTA Bus Stop

       The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) operates the regional public bus system. The PVTA bus is free with a student ID. It’s an excellent way to travel throughout the region, including to the other five colleges.

   12. EV Charging Stations

       Electric vehicles are becoming increasingly utilized by the college community. There are a number of pairs of electric vehicle charging stations located across campus that allow EV users to charge their vehicles.

   13. Pollinator Pop-Ups

       The campus grounds crew plants pollinator-friendly small pop-up gardens across campus. The gardens feature plants like sunflowers and milkweed that attract pollinators such as butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. Pollinators are an essential part of the regional food system and ecosystem.

   14. Tree Campus USA

       The college has a long standing commitment to the health and sustainability of the campus trees. Amherst College is a Tree Campus USA recipient. The National Arbor Day Foundation recognizes colleges and universities across the United States for effective campus forest management and for engaging staff and students in conservation goals.

   15. Ives Weather Station

       The town of Amherst has one of America's longest continuous histories of weather observations (since 1835). Dr. Phillip T. Ives ('32) began weather observations at a station outside Webster Hall in 1948. Today, real time weather data from the station including temperature, wind, humidity, and precipitation among others are available online!

   16. Yushien Japanese Garden

       Celebrating the college’s close friendship with Doshisha University in Kyoto,  the Yushien Japanese garden is an ideal spot for quiet reflection. The Journal of Japanese Gardening ranked the garden as one of the top Japanese gardens in the country! The garden’s name “Yushien” loosely translates to “garden of friendship.” 

   17. The Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Lyceum

       The Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Lyceum uses no fossil fuel burning equipment, it is a mass timber building and is constructed with zero-embodied carbon (meaning the wood and cellulose materials balance out the concrete and steel footprint), and insulations and air tightness standards were based on Passive House principles. The building also has brought the planting of 70 new trees surrounding it, and a rooftop PV solar array provides 44,000 KWH/ Year of power for the building, a significant portion of the building's overall electrical load.

   18. The Bike Share

       The Amherst Bike Share program allows members of the campus community to check out a bike from Alumni Gym for a few hours for free. The program operates from March-November, and is an excellent way to explore the area, especially on the rail trail! The program is a partnership between the Office of Sustainability and Athletics department. 

   19. Norwottuck Rail Trail

       The rail trail is an 11-mile paved trail, which connects Amherst to Northampton. This easily-accessible trail is ideal for walking, biking, running, and even cross country skiing in the winter! The trail can be accessed behind the outdoor tennis courts and is a perfect spot for a relaxing bike ride, a fun good workout, or efficient transportation between Amherst, Hadley, and Northampton. 

   20. Wildlife Sanctuary and Bird Sanctuary

       The 500+ acre Amherst College Sanctuary includes a wide variety of walking paths and land covers including open fields, wetlands, woods, and ponds. It is a popular site for both recreation and research on campus. Trail maps are available online and at the trail heads.

   21. Book and Plow Farm

       The Book and Plow is our organic-practice campus farm. The farm is committed to sustainable agricultural practices and provides the dining hall with fresh produce. The farm offers a variety of educational, research, and community programs around food and farming and employs a large number of student workers.