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Show AggieLife Monday, Oct. 5, 2009 Page 5 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com Blue goes platinum green By TAM ROUNDS staff writer If students have ever wondered about that modern structure with the wing-like roof, amid the ponds on the east side of I-15 in Kaysville, it is the Wetland Discovery Point (WDP). Located at the Utah Botanical Center (UBC), this is the crown jewel in USU’s growing collection of greenbuilt buildings. Excavation for the 3,200-square-foot structure began in May 2008 and USU took ownership of the building in February 2009. Dave Anderson, director of UBC, said it was constructed to meet rigorous standards, earning it an internationally-recognized Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification, at a cost of $1.7 million. LEED is a point-based system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000 to measure how environmental-friendly a structure is. Construction projects earn LEED points for satisfying specific greenbuilding criteria in six LEED credit categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation in Design. THE WETLAND discovery point is located at the Utah Botanical Center (UBC) and is part USU’s collection of green-built buildings. Wetland Discovery Point is the UBC’s newest site for educational courses and field trips for the adults and thousands of school children who visit the center each year to learn about the importance of conservation and wetland ecosystems. TYLER LARSON photo Certification rankings represent increasingly energy-wise design and construction beginning with certified followed by silver, gold and platinum. Anderson said WDP is the only publicly owned platinum LEED certified building in Utah. Privately owned buildings are the Swaner EcoCenter in Park City and Daybreak in South Jordan. All future USU buildings will be built according to LEED silver requirements or better. That is the standard that Utah adopted earlier this year for all public buildings. Stanley Kane, university architect and director of Facilities Operations at USU, said the USTAR Health Sciences Center currently under construction at USU’s Innovation Campus is aiming for a gold rating. Both WDP and USTAR were planned before Utah made LEED silver certification a minimum requirement. The donors wanted the national recognition that the LEED rating brings. According to UBC’s Web site, WDP is UBC’s newest site for educational courses and field trips for the adults and thousands of school children who visit the center each year to learn about the importance of conservation and wetland ecosystems. It joins The Utah House – another UBC green building demonstrating how a typical single-family home can have minimal impact on the environment – the Varga Arboretum, greenhouses and demonstration gardens on 100 acres – including 25 acres of open water – that offer learning opportunities for Utahns to be excellent stewards of the land and its resources. WDP has numerous examples of cutting-edge sustainable features. Beginning with the striking roof design, Jayne Mulford, coordinator at the UBC, explained that “the angled pitch of the wings directs rainwater to a central gutter that empties the water into the pond at one end and to a 6,500-gallon capacity above-ground cistern at the other. Water from the tank is then used to flush the toilets within the facility.” The attractively weathered decking surrounding the building is constructed with Trestlewood. According to the UBC Web site, the timbers were reclaimed from the Lucin Cutoff railroad trestle that once crossed Great Salt Lake. Aside from being part of local history and also highly rot-resistant, the reclaimed wood reduces the need to harvest new wood. The decking is a work in progress and is designed to eventually extend out over the pond. Entering the building, - See GREEN, page 7 Student balances the big screen and the textbooks By CASSIDEE CLINE staff writer Many people’s fantasies about starring in a movie surround the idea that it is easy. If individuals have had enough acting experience then they believe they will be able to portray whatever character the director wants. Some people who choose to pursue that career find out that it is a lot tougher then just showing up at an audition and reading through a couple of lines. Shane Wood is the new-up-and-coming undiscovered talent in the movie industry. When he first started, Wood found himself on a number of different movie sets doing stunt work along side U.S. Marines. Without any former theater experience in middle and high school, Wood was more a macho guy who seemed like he would play football for his career. Wood grew up in North Logan, was a high school drop out, and at the age 18 he worked at the EA Miller slaughterhouse. While working, his boss, Mike Faulker, had told him he was too smart to be working at the slaughterhouse for the rest of his life and encouraged him to go to college. Wood said he had moved out of his house at 16 and he had no clue how he would pay for college, but when Faulker had told Wood about applying for grants, Wood said he got motivated, started going to the gym and then went to Dixie College. Wood said he spent two years of his life playing football at Dixie College. The plan, Wood said, was to go to USU and follow in Hal Garner’s footsteps. Garner was a childhood friend of Wood in Logan who became a football star for the Buffalo Bills when he graduated from USU. “That’s kind of where I thought I would end up,” Wood said. Things didn’t go that way. After the second year, Wood’s friend, Jack Croft, from Dixie College called him from Las Vegas and invited him to work at the Shark Club. Wood said when he got there, he and Croft were hired as bouncers for the United States No. 1 dance club. While there, Wood said he had the opportunity to meet Clint Eastwood and be his bodyguard, as well as Sylvester Stallone, Evander Holyfield, Sean Penn and other big-name actors who passed through the club. During his two years working in Las Vegas, Wood said part of the reason he went to pursue the “whole bag of tricks” in Hollywood was after standing with Clint Eastwood for three hours in the club. Wood said his idea of theater was different before he met Eastwood and Stallone. He said, “Theater wasn’t so theater. It was OK for a macho guy to be in theater.” After meeting those actors Wood said he “packed up Vegas.” At age 22, Wood’s career started with playing a cop in the movie “Fatherhood” and stunt doubling for Patrick Swayze. He said later on in his career while he was working out at the gym a guy told him about the need for an arm double in the television show “Threshold.” When Wood arrived on set, he met retired Marine Matt Sigloch who would move to different movie sets with his comrades to do television shows and movie stunts. Sigloch began taking Wood out with the U.S. Marines to do stunts. Wood said they did a lot of stunts for a variety of different shows including “CSI Miami,” “NCIS,” “ER” and many others. Wood explained that the marines have a program called “stunts for less” and movie directors will hire them because they can last a long time. Wood said, “We could shoot a two-hour movie in a matter of two days.” In 2007, Wood had the opportunity to play a part in the movie “The Bank Job” – not the one with Jason Stratham. Director Brad Jurjens needed a guy to come out and play an FBI agent. Before they began filming, Wood said Jurjens called him and said the lead actor wasn’t going to show up, so Wood was given the three-page-dialogue role. Wood said he rehearsed a total of three times, and when they filmed, Jurjens “was raving about it.” Once “The Bank Job” was done, Jurjens called Wood to read a script that he had made specifically for Wood. The script, originally called “Shooter” and then changed to “Hired Gun,” would make Wood the star of the show with Michael Madson as a costar. “I am a movie star, and a movie star with Michael Madson bona fides me as a movie star,” Wood said. In “Hired Gun,” Wood plays Chad, who is, as Wood said, “an ex-marine that spun out.” He plays the bad guy, yet he does he right thing and saves a city from being destroyed. “‘Hired Gun’ is definitely a marketing tool for me,” he said. Wood said there is talk of doing a sequel for “Hired Gun,” but there is also talk about Wood having the opportunity acting in “Mad Max 4.” “I’m praying for ‘Mad Max 4,’” Wood said. After “Hired Gun,” Wood moved back to Logan with his wife, Christina, his 2-year-old daughter, Alessandra, and his baby girl, Christiana. Wood said he felt it was time to move back to where he had family and friends as he waits to see what will happen with his career. Wood said he is currently at USU trying to finish his bachelor’s in theater. Wood said it isn’t easy. He said before he was in the movie usu student Shane Wood during production of “Hired Gun,” his latest theatrical release. Wood started his career playing a cop in the movie “Fatherhood” and stunt doubling for Patrick Swayze. Wood is currently finishing his bachelor’s degree in theater. photo courtesy TAVIX PICTURES industry he was a gym fanatic who spent a total of four hours daily in the gym. He said the shape he was in gave him the ability to keep up with the U.S. Marines and get the stunt doubling in the shows. For those pursuing a movie career, Woods spoke from experience saying, “The competition is going to be fierce. So keep your chin up and don’t let little things get you down. Because there will be a lot of rejection and doors shut in your face. It’s luck where opportunity meets preparation. If you have done some preparation than you will be ready for it, and you can impress somebody with what you are going to do.“ – cassi.joe.cline@aggiemail.usu.edu |