New Hand Dryers for a Sustainable Campus

Hand Dryers for a Sustainable Campus

Installing the Dyson Airblade V during the renovation of a campus building and relocation of the admission center allowed Boston University to greatly reduce landfill waste and further their mission of sustainability.

Chartered in 1869, Boston University (BU) is one of the nation’s largest private urban research universities. With over 33,000 students, nearly 10,000 staff and 17 schools and colleges offering 250 fields of study, BU ranks in the top 50 of U.S. News & World Report ’s annual ranking of the nation’s top universities.

Boston University’s aim is to drive change on campus and integrate sustainability into existing education, research and operations programs to reduce energy consumption and decrease waste across its two campuses. With the Facilities Management & Planning department, the initiative aims to improve the sustainability of existing campus buildings, renovations and new construction.

To improve a prospective student’s experience with a larger, more technologically advanced space, BU decided to renovate an existing campus building and relocate its admission center there. To support their mission of sustainability at the Leventhal Center, the university decided to try the Dyson Airblade V hand dryer in four of the admission center restrooms.

In the four restrooms with Airblade™ technology, paper towels were not installed as a hand drying option, therefore reducing the waste that’s generated from paper towels. Assuming that an estimated 70,000 annual visitors to the Leventhal Center use the Dyson Airblade hand dryer instead of paper towels, over 140,000 paper towels would be saved from going into a landfill annually.

www.dysonairblade.com

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.

  • Compton High School

    Compton High School

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. Compton High School has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • A digital silhouette works at a computer, immersed in a glowing, interconnected world

    How Will AI Transform Learning Space Design?

    For years, higher education has designed learning spaces around technology as a tool for display, capture, collaboration, and connectivity. AI changes that equation.

  • Designing Third Spaces That Do What AI Can't

    In 2026, education is evolving faster than ever. With AI reshaping everything from lesson planning to personalized instruction, schools and universities are turning their attention to what AI can’t replicate: spaces that foster collaboration, community, and creativity.