DLR Group|Westlake Reed Leskosky’s design responds to rising student enrollment and growing interest in the arts, and furnishes much-needed space for UNR’s new and expanded arts programs.

The new University Arts Building expands the existing Church Fine Arts Complex, originally opened in 1962, and connects the two facilities into a seamless arts complex via a skywalk. The entrance showcases a multi-tiered lobby that joins the plaza, street, and bridge levels into a multilayered setting to present art, music and performance. DLR Group|WRL’s design utilizes the topography of the site in the heart of campus to create an active outdoor area that connects campus pedestrian walkways.

“UNR is known as a vibrant arts campus. This new facility solidifies the University’s commitment to the arts by not only adding a special venue to elevate performances and education of the arts, but also providing a building designed to expose the rest of campus to these wonderful activities within,” said DLR Group|WRL Principal Peter Rutti, AIA. “The University Arts Building will be home to world-class performances and major exhibitions the entire community can enjoy.”

Highlights of the new venue include a 287-seat recital hall, a unique electro acoustic composition lab for digital music production, recording studio, digital fabrication lab blending art and music disciplines, additional rehearsal and practice rooms, faculty offices and studios, and the University Art Museum. The electro acoustic composition lab features octophonic sound, with eight speakers positioned around the room that can work in unison or function independently to support the creation and performance of music.

“The breadth and depth of our campus continues to grow,” University of Nevada, Reno President Marc Johnson said. “The University Arts Building is an excellent example of the high level of energy and quality we have for our College of Liberal Arts, the School of the Arts and our University.” 

Funding for the $35.5 million building is a combination of private philanthropy gifts and University monies.

DLR Group is an integrated design firm delivering architecture, engineering, interiors, planning, and building optimization for new construction, renovation and adaptive reuse.

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DENVER ― Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU-Pueblo) has tapped DLR Group to design the renovation and addition to its well-used Psychology building.

The building currently houses six departments in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Built in 1975, the building has become technologically and spatially limited; prompting the university to seek necessary building upgrades in order to provide students and staff with up-to-date academic environments.

DLR Group’s design features expands academic and support areas to accommodate future enrollment growth and address current limitations.

New classrooms and labs, breakout spaces, and group huddle areas create a collaborative and integrated space for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, aligning the department with Vision 2028, CSU-Pueblo’s initiative to reimagine higher education across the Southwest and in Colorado.

A welcoming new entry enhances the building’s presence along the Paseo, the campus’ main circulation promenade. Renovations also include upgrades to building and technology systems to create a more comfortable learning environment for students and faculty.

“DLR Group is excited to partner with CSU-Pueblo to design a facility that meets the educational needs of its students, faculty, and the Pueblo community,” said DLR Group Principal Bob Binder, AIA. “The Psychology Building is the most heavily used academic building on campus, and we’re confident we can transform it into a state-of-the-art environment with modern instructional and social spaces today’s students expect.”

The design-build team also includes Pueblo-based group HW Houston Construction.

The $12.8 million project is expected to reach completion in time for the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year. 

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While the 54-year-old Sharples Dining Hall is a campus landmark, the beloved facility has become too small to comfortably house the student body.

By converting the existing dining hall into a community commons space, DLR Group aims to generate enhanced opportunities for socialization between students, staff and faculty. The design will respect the historic character while elevating student life for future generations, according to DLR Group. A diverse range of spaces will be available for use, from individual study, to small group or large team activities, and integrated technology will allow for continuous connectivity throughout the building.

The new 800-900 seat dining hall will be designed with input from students, faculty and staff, according to DLR Group, and will offer a modern culinary experience. Together, the new dining hall and community commons will serve as a hub of activity and a cornerstone for social gathering on campus.

DLR Group will execute a comprehensive, 360-degree view engagement process to ensure all stakeholders have a voice in the project. The process includes campus immersion by the planning and design team via student, faculty, staff, and administration interviews, student focus groups, town hall meetings, and campus workshops.

In addition, DLR Group will research and explore various sustainable options to meet the College’s desire for a net zero solution, including energy reduction and production. Swarthmore’s existing 425-acre arboretum campus, which features rolling lawns, a creek, wooded hills, and hiking trails, will also influence the final design. DLR Group will use complementary materials and preserve the natural landscape surrounding the facilities.

The project is funded in large part by a 2013 gift from Giles “Gil” Kemp, Swarthmore College Class of 1972, and Barbara Guss. Design work begins immediately and construction will be completed in two phases. Construction is scheduled to begin in summer 2020 with a grand opening in fall 2022.

“DLR Group is deeply honored to be selected as the College’s design partner to transform campus life. This project touches every individual on campus and reflects the institution’s culture of embracing sustainability, diversity, and inclusiveness at its very core,” said Stu Rothenberger, AIA, DLR Group Global Higher Education Leader. “We look forward to engaging and collaborating with the entire campus community to explore what is possible as we push the boundaries of sustainable design.”

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In addition to the adaptable theater, the Eric Baker NordPerforming Arts Annex also boasts a new lobby and event space, rehearsal space, dressing rooms, and scene and costume shops shared by both stage houses, as well as classrooms, labs, and studios for acting and the arts. The theater completes yet another phase of DLR Group|WRL’s Green Arts District Master Plan for Oberlin; other projects completed by the firm as part of the master plan include the newly LEED Platinum-Certified Birenbaum Innovation and PerformanceCenter, the award-winning Film Studies facility in the original Apollo Theatre, and the renovation study for the Hall Auditorium.

DLR Group|WRL’s new theater design offers a contemporary addition to the original 1956 modern landmark. Addressing the auditorium’s current limitations in size and accessibility, our design brings the complex up to contemporary standards while maintaining the modernist structure and establishing continuity between new and old venues.

Experts in DLR Group|WRL’s in-house comprehensive theater specialties group, the Innovative Technology Design Group (ITDG), provided planning and design to bring modernized acoustic, audiovisual (A/V), and theater technical elements to the new adaptable Irene and Alan Wurtzel Theater. Working in tandem with the architectural and engineering teams, ITDG designers detailed new technology solutions to complement the facility’s existing technology and replace aging systems.

Acoustic work included mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) noise and vibration control design, sound isolation design to allow the adaptable theater to operate simultaneously with the existing Hall Auditorium, and room acoustic design to promote voice projection, speech clarity, and audio system fidelity in the adaptable theater as well as the rehearsal space.

Enhanced A/V elements include distributed audio systems, video distribution capabilities, production intercom systems, performance audio systems that are flexible and portable for various configurations, and video projection systems.

Theater technical design for the adaptable theater include a comprehensive integrated lighting control system that allows for operation of venue lighting through wall stations or lighting consoles, distributed power and data connections for performance lighting, new inventory of performance lighting fixtures, house and stage masking drapery, portable modular seating riser system with integrated step lighting to allow for multiple seating configurations, and a catwalk system with supplementary rigging pipes for hanging lighting, drapery, scenery, audio, and other production needs.

Central to the theater is its adaptable design, which provides new performance opportunities for faculty and students by expanding the types of productions the college’s theater, dance, and opera departments can offer. Before the Performing Arts Annex, the college’s theater and dance departments would have to host their 15-18 yearly performances in either the 550-seat HallAuditorium or the Little Theatre, which has an 80-seat audience capacity.

The theater addition to the Eric Baker Nord Performing Arts Annex offers the campus and the greater Northeast Ohio area with a flexible, medium-sized venue where performers can experiment with new types of productions and students can explore modern curriculum. Thanks to its adaptable design, seating in the multi-form theater can be reconfigured to around the stage rather than directly in front of it, shifting the dynamic, approach, and sightlines between the audience and the performers.

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As a Certified Educational Facilities Professional (CEFP) and LEED Accredited Professional, Garrido combines his passion for delivering high performing buildings academically and environmentally. He is active in organizations that lead the conversation surrounding the higher education student experience through effective planning and design, including the Association of Facilities Officers in Higher Education (APPA) and SCUP.

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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The DLR Group will provide integrated master planning, architecture and interior design services for the long-awaited Beverly Hills High School (BHHS) Modernization Project.

The project entails a complete modernization that includes additions to the 510,000-square-foot school’s B1, B2, B3 and B4 buildings.

In what BHHS calls a “full structural seismic retrofit,” the new campus will be a combination of modernized existing buildings as well as new buildings, designed to harmonize with the original 1928 building. Significant work will be done to Building B1 and Building B2 in Phase 1 of the modernization project. Construction for B1 will include a new media center, new college and career centers, new public restrooms, teacher workrooms, staff offices, and a reading center.

Construction for B2 will include 10 Classrooms with flexible partition walls, new public restrooms, conference and workrooms, speech and independent study areas, principal and staff offices, counseling center, and an ASB Center. The Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD) contracted the DLR Group as the Architect of Record for the project in July of 2012.

SCN originally covered this project back in November of 2011 when the DLR Group won a conceptual design competition by a unanimous vote of judges to modernize Beverly Hills High School at an estimated cost of $150 million. Since then, Karen MacIntyre, RA, LEED AP BD+C with the DLR Group, says that renovations on the first two buildings B1 and B2 are currently underway, and are scheduled for completion in 2021.

The DLR Group and BHUSD officials remain tight-lipped about the project, as a lawsuit has been filed against the Federal Transit Administration and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for a different kind of construction project underground.

The Los Angeles County Metro has plans to drill a subway tunnel 70 feet below BHHS at the same time construction of the modernization project, which started back in April, continues for the next 30 months.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a $9-billion subway extension, commonly referred to as the “Purple Line,” will be broken up into three phases that includes connecting the current terminus in Koreatown to Beverly Hills and Century City by 2025.

In January, the school district announced that it was filing a lawsuit against the FTA, and the Metro, but is still moving forward with plans for the modernization on BHHS.

“The primary impact will be on B1 and B2 because they go directly under B1 and B2,” said Terry Tao, an attorney representing BHUSD. “The only impact on those buildings would be sound and vibration.”

At full build-out, nearly the entire 24-acre site at BHHS will be redeveloped to maximize usable area for regulation-sized athletic fields, and to create a pedestrian-focused campus by placing parking underground.

The Swim Gym made famous in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” will be restored, and a new pedestrian plaza will replace the existing Heath Avenue that cuts through the campus. New educational specifications will guide the development of innovative 21st Century learning environments, focused on learning villages and flexible common space. The facility program includes three different theaters, a highly advanced TV studio, a robotics lab, an art gallery/welcome center, a fitness club, a planetarium, new gymnasiums and athletic fields, and an Olympic-size aquatics facility.

Tao said that Phase 1 is currently in the “construction document approval phase,” and that plans for buildings B3 and B4 are forthcoming.

“Eventually we’re going to do [Building] A, but that’s not on their agenda yet,” said Tao.

A report from the Los Angeles Times contributed to this story.

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Higher education creates opportunities for students to follow their dreams, provide for their families and master skills. Some communities across the country, however, lack access to higher education facilities and programs, forcing residents to make difficult life choices.

In one community southwest of Kissimmee, Fla., thousands of students were without direct access to higher education institutions for many years. Students fought the daily grind of a 90-minute round-trip commute by car; those who relied on the bus for transportation suffered through a two-hour, one-way trip as they pursued degrees or certificates from Valencia College’s West and Osceola campuses. Fortunately, that all changed in the fall of 2017 with the opening of the new Valencia Poinciana Campus.

The realization of a vision that launched 10 years prior, the new campus serves the growing higher education needs of the local community that bridges Osceola and surrounding counties, and provides much needed and desired accessible education to students of the Poinciana community.

“When we started construction on the Poinciana Campus, I was often asked, ‘Why are you building a campus in Poinciana? No one from Poinciana goes to college.’ I would consistently respond, ‘That is precisely why we are building a campus in Poinciana,’” Kathleen Plinske, Ed.D., campus president for Osceola, Lake Nona and Poinciana campuses.

National firm DLR Group was hired to master plan and program the new campus, and to design the first three buildings, which include:

• A 63,894-square-foot, multi-use facility that houses 12 classrooms, a science lab, two computer labs and a culinary teaching kitchen to serve the new Hospitality Program. Additionally, as the first and main building for the campus, this facility includes necessary financial and student services, administration offices, conference rooms, a library, a café and a multipurpose gathering room that opens to a central courtyard that can be used by the college and community for events.

• The 11,706-square-foot Center for Accelerated Training, which houses rotating programs of six- to 12-week certification courses such as basic construction, transportation logistics, advanced manufacturing and fork-lift operating as well as continuing education courses in English as a Second Language and Spanish.

• A 4,220-square-foot Central Utility Plant servicing the entire campus with room for future campus growth.

DLR Group’s planning efforts for this campus stem from its belief that truly successful higher education capital improvements focus on three considerations: student culture, community investment and sustainability.

Designing a Student Campus Culture

Higher education designs are formed from a deep understanding of core institutional programs, services and stakeholders. Designs that are most effective serve the unique needs of the local student body. At Valencia College’s Poinciana Campus, this translates into a campus culture designed to serve thousands of local students, many of whom are the first generation in their family to attend college. Building upon the long history and success of the Valencia College network, this new campus is a fresh start that creates a memorable student experience.

“When you step onto campus you feel a sense of optimism. Students express excitement about the future with deep-rooted emotion, as though they are now physically standing in a vision they have had without knowing if it would ever be their reality,” said Mark Hose, Valencia College facility planner.

A majority of the population served by the Poinciana Campus is Latino, specifically from Puerto Rico. DLR Group’s design celebrates the surrounding community’s heritage and pays homage to the iconic Poinciana (or “flame”) trees, which are common in Puerto Rico and are viewed as symbols of hope. Two Poinciana trees in the student courtyard are the focal point for the campus’ inspiration. The trees’ placement, coupled with a courtyard that opens toward the community, welcomes visitors and creates a sense of pride for the new campus.

Biomimicry of the Poinciana tree is used throughout the exterior and interior design of the main building as inspiration to the community and a reminder of hope and aspiration. DLR Group incorporated the tree’s foliage as the pattern for shading devices on the south side of the building, and colorful banners along the north side celebrate the blooming red flowers. The interior color palette blends warm wood tones reflective of the beautiful Poinciana tree with bold red moments in the cool-toned carpeting, recalling the picturesque tapestry of the ground after the red flowers have fallen. The design also features a student-gathering plaza that inhabits the second and third floors of the north-south portion of the building. This plaza is lovingly termed the “Treehouse” as it sits nestled between the finished, polished Poinciana Trees’ courtyard to its west and the native Floridian conservation forest to its east.

Because the design reflects the local culture, students who attend Poinciana Campus feel at home, while also staying connected to the greater Valencia College student experience. They finally have a designated space where they can learn and socialize with their peers while achieving their higher education goals.

Community-Based Dynamic

The Poinciana Campus is a true community campus, supported both locally and by the state. Leaders within the local community rallied with state officials to create lifelong learning opportunities for residents of all ages.

“The Poinciana Campus is a game-changer for the community,” said Plinske. “Before, a college education was simply out of reach for many students. Now, a college education is available in our students’ backyard.”

The 19-acre site was donated by Osceola County, and the design and construction was funded by the state. The state legislature approved a series of funding for the school, including $1 million in 2014 for planning funds, $11.9 million in 2015 to fund half of the construction costs and an additional $12.1 million in 2016, which helped transform the Poinciana Campus from a dream into reality. Recognizing the critical need for the campus, the Board of Trustees of Valencia College also allocated $2 million from reserves to accelerate the planning and design of the campus.

“We were so fortunate that our local, county and state leadership recognized the tremendous need for the Poinciana Campus and found the resources necessary to make higher education accessible for a community that historically had been underserved,” said Plinske.

To read the entire story, check out the March/April issue of School Construction News.

Nicole Nichols, AIA, is DLR Group’s higher education leader and principal in the national design firm.

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For this year’s architect roundtable, School Construction News spoke with three women who are leaders in the industry: Pam Loeffelman, K-12 education leader at DLR Group; Lisa Fay Matthiessen, national sustainable design director at HGA Architects and Engineers; and Tracy Carusi, principal at Collins Cooper Carusi Architects. Each offered cogent answers to questions we hoped would spark a spirited discussion about design and its place in the experience of those who both shape it and encounter it in real life.

Q: Baking sustainability into design for education seems to be par for the course these days — or is it? How does this mindset inform aesthetic decisions in design? Is there such a thing as “green fatigue?”

Loeffelman: The definition of sustainability and green design is evolving. The USGBC and LEED initiated a culture shift in architecture and engineering that recognized the importance of designs that embrace stewardship of our earth’s natural resources. Additional organizations and their resulting “check lists” continue to prescribe how a client can best celebrate a return on investment in a design that is functional, aesthetically pleasing and sustainable.

However, most clients have their own metrics of success. These metrics have continued to evolve the definition of sustainability. Certainly the operating/life cycle costs of buildings need to be considered; the use of building materials and systems that contribute to the quality of building environments related to air quality, health and wellness; and a return to good design policy regarding siting, orientation, massing and thermal envelope all contribute to high-performance buildings that represent not only good design, but also a fiduciary responsibility to clients and the funds invested in any building outcome.

Matthiessen: Sustainability is not par for the course in design for education, not in the full sense of the word. Much or most of the market is aware of and using metrics to measure sustainability — usually LEED. The use of LEED has indeed made sustainability a topic or priority for many clients and designers, but sustainability is not a finite topic. It’s not something that you learn how to do and then you are done. We have reached a level of awareness and competence around sustainability, and now there are many more levels to explore and boundaries to push. With LEED Silver being the norm now, we see schools reaching for net-zero energy. Other emerging priorities include water use, designing for human health and social equity. So yes, sustainability is a familiar topic now, but the more we know, the more we have to explore.

Carusi: There is no doubt that sustainable design is more of a standard than an outlier in our client markets. However, our clients’ appetites for official certification has decreased over recent years, instead expressing a desire to be sustainable without formal certification. “Baking in” sustainability can impact our aesthetic decisions. For example, we know we need to avoid large expanses of west-facing glass in our designs at the outset or find a way to effectively shade the glass. This strategy certainly has a major impact on aesthetics. On the other hand, clients’ expectations that sustainable design has a certain sustainable look is not particularly valid. We completed a LEED Platinum project recently, the headquarters for Global Ministries in Atlanta, where the sustainability was “under cover” and not particularly identifiable from the exterior. This was not intentional, but merely the result of using fairly conventional design and construction approaches in ways where we still achieved a high sustainable goal.

Q: What issues or value propositions are architects and designers facing or pursuing in terms of expressing gender and identity politics through their work?

Loeffelman: All architects should take the responsibility to understand their clients and what architectural outcomes best represents their metrics for success. As clients represent various constituencies, it is important to focus on a building’s purpose and how to create environments that enable all constituencies to succeed. If one focuses too directly on gender and identity politics, there is a possibility of serving none rather than serving specific groups.

Matthiessen: To my mind, addressing issues of gender and identity must include internal reflection on the part of the design team. We must understand how these issues impact and shape our own processes and perspectives, and work to mitigate our shortcomings, before attempting to address these issues in our work. If the design team is homogeneous, then it needs to change. That said, I think it is absolutely true that gender and identity can inform design. For example, Frances Moore of SmithGroupJJR has done very compelling research into how women experience the world and has used this information to shape the design of a women’s hospital.

Carusi: I’m not sure that I would necessarily relate our particular clients’ issues to politics. Instead, they seem to be genuinely concerned about addressing their customers, members or student issues. In recreational facilities, we’ve been designing self-contained individual changing and shower rooms for years that are generally effective in addressing gender identity, among other matters such as age or religious preferences. Our university clients have occasionally asked us to include “unisex” individual toilet rooms in lieu of toilet batteries with multiple stalls.

Q: How do you account for obsolescence in your design? Nothing lasts forever, so how do you incorporated the “inevitable” in your design approach?

Loeffelman: Future-proofing buildings starts with the tenets of good design: appropriate understanding of community and context, building plans that provide a clear arrival sequence, circulation/wayfinding that is easily comprehended, and places and spaces that are well proportioned and flexible. While every building use evolves over time, creating buildings that are a “loose fit” for any activity allow for continual use and adaptation over time. This approach includes all building elements ranging from systems that are zoned to walls that are constructed from easily reconfigurable to permanent, or one-, five-, and 10-year walls.

Carusi: We have actually worked with a few repeat clients long enough that we have seen our original designs either demolished or repurposed. However, we work with many clients who expect to own their buildings for a minimum of 30 to 50 years and want us to design durable and timeless designs. It’s tempting to design with and explore the latest and greatest new material, trendy geometry or technology, and there is a place for that on the continuum of the overall design spectrum. However, taking that short view as an overall philosophy of practice generally does a disservice to our client and our communities.

Frequently, that “of the moment” approach is not human-centered, sustainable or durable. That said, one of the building types where planned obsolescence has been a recent factor is education. The need to continually reinvent and reconfigure in schools is more common today than ever. Public school systems who might have dictated CMU (concrete masonry unit) construction as a standard frequently accept our suggestion to use high-impact gypsum board construction with recycled content. You have the advantage of a high-recycled content with a more easily deconstructed system that allows economical reconfiguration and can continue to be recycled (steel studs and gypsum board). In addition, building structural components can be lightened using less CMU. Whether or not our clients are interested in building sustainably, our specifications require recycled content in most building materials, and we use more materials that can be easily recycled.

Neumann/ Smith Architecture have found that both economics and a trend away from unique interior finishes have recently allowed for more dynamic expressions of our clients’ branding and culture through the use of easily applied, removed and re-imagined environmental graphics. There is definitely a concept of planned obsolescence here.

To read the entire article, check out the March/April issue of School Construction News.

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WADDELL, Ariz. — Sustainability, as a concept, has become increasingly more sophisticated, extending beyond the built environment into the realm of how a building accommodates and interacts with people. New sustainable materials and systems arrive on the scene every day with promises to enhance the user experience. To remain on the cutting edge of these emerging technologies, DLR Group leans on research to inform our designs and to test the next application of sustainable inventions.

That’s exactly what DLR Group did for Agua Fria Union High School District’s Canyon View High School, located in Waddell. As a facility that embodies originality from its very core, Canyon View is the perfect project to incorporate newfound sustainable strategies that could forever change the way we design schools in the future.

Thermal Mass 2.0

Heating and cooling a facility plays a significant role in the overall energy consumption of that building and contributes to the majority of greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the built environment. We discovered that one passive design technique — using thermal mass to store and release thermal energy — could result in a more efficient building and a decrease in operational costs. In years past, thermal mass was applied through thick concrete walls or massive stone walls to stabilize the indoor thermal environment; however, today’s construction practices limit the usage of such assemblies due to their costs, labor and availability.

The advent of breakthrough innovation in the field of phase change materials (PCMs) prompted DLR Group’s internal research and development program to fund a research initiative called Thermal Mass 2.0, which expands on existing research independently conducted on a small scale by Arizona State University (ASU) and DLR Group. In 2010, a team at ASU researched the efficacy of Bio-PCM on a demonstration house in Arizona and found it capable of delivering energy savings from 9 percent to 29 percent, depending on the month. The team also found that Bio-PCM was able to significantly shift peak electricity demand of up to six hours. Additionally, DLR Group tested the effectiveness of Bio-PCMs at temporary modular classrooms at Escondido Union School District in California, which has seen energy savings of 31 percent in HVAC energy compared to a modular classroom without Bio-PCM.

Testing Phase

Canyon View High School is designed with four identical two-story, 30,000-square-foot classroom buildings, consisting of metal stud frame walls with concrete floors and steel deck roof. DLR Group and its partners have installed Bio-PCM ENRG blankets in 21,000 square feet of one classroom building designated as the test building. A second classroom building is the control building to measure against the Bio-PCM building. Bio-PCM is installed above ceiling tiles on the first floor in areas with ceiling tiles, and behind gypsum board on interior and exterior walls in the test building. Both buildings will measure HVAC energy, overall building energy and thermal comfort in one room on each floor with thermocouples on all six surfaces. Additional thermocouples will measure the rate of heat transfer in ceilings and exterior walls.

Bio-PCM ENRG blankets are expected to change phase at 73 degrees Fahrenheit, plus or minus three degrees. As the space gains more heat during the day in cooling dominated days, Bio-PCM will start to absorb the heat by changing its phase from solid to liquid. It will continue to absorb heat from the sun, people and equipment, until it reaches its capacity, after which mechanical cooling will remove the heat. At night, if the outdoor temperature is below 65 degrees, the Bio-PCM can be charged by bringing in the outdoor air through the dedicated outdoor air system, a process called night-flushing. This process will cool the Bio-PCM and remove the heat, again changing its phase to solid. When the outdoor temperature is not below 65 degrees Fahrenheit, Bio-PCM is anticipated to be charged using mechanical means, which remains an energy-efficient option. HVAC systems operate more efficiently at lower temperatures overnight than during the hottest time of the day.

Based on previous testing, the amount of Bio-PCM at 70 percent of floor area is anticipated to provide a considerable shift in the need for mechanical cooling. DLR Group’s research aims to pin down exactly these interrelationships of outdoor temperature, phase change charge-recharge cycle, amount, type and location of Bio-PCM, occupancy variations and thermal comfort.

DLR Group will measure thermal comfort beginning in March 2018 and also measure energy consumption throughout the 2018-19 school year. The desired building outcomes are twofold: one, for Canyon View High School to operate 78 percent more efficiently than a traditional high school per EnergyStar benchmark in the same climate; and two, for a more comfortable overall user experience for occupants. While Bio-PCM is applied to only 10 percent of the facility, DLR Group is looking forward to understanding and verifying its contribution to overall energy savings.

To read the entire article, check out the January/February issue of School Construction News.

Premnath Sundharam, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, serves as the global sustainability leader at national architecture firm DLR Group.

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The Missouri Innovation Campus (MIC) in Lee’s Summit, Mo., isn’t just a building. It’s a program that’s changing the way students experience education and prepare themselves for the workplace.

The partnership between Lee’s Summit R-7 School District, Metropolitan Community College and the University of Central Missouri (UCM) brings together high school and college students into one space, housing the MIC program, Summit Technology Academy (STA) and University of Central Missouri-Lee’s Summit, an off-site campus for UCM.

Students can start the MIC program their junior year of high school by attending STA, a program that offers students dual-credit classes that prepare them for careers in engineering, computer science, healthcare and multimedia. During the time it takes students to complete high school, they will have earned an associate’s degree from Metropolitan Community College, interned at a local business and then can finish their four-year bachelor’s degree from UCM just two years after they graduate high school.

The MIC program also integrates students into the community by requiring them to complete three years of paid internships with companies based in the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area. Not only does this help alleviate the costs of education, but it also helps prepare students for the working world. In total, there are 500 metropolitan students in STA, 1,000 students in UCM and approximately 100 MIC students amongst them.

“The goal of the MIC is two-fold: to meet workforce demand for top technology-talented students and to eliminate massive college debt by reducing the time to degree completion,” said STA Principal Elaine Metcalf.

A new building for MIC was completed in time for the 2017-2018 school year. Before the new building was built, MIC was spread across two locations. Now, students have access to all the technologies they could want or dream up. In fact, the new campus was built with flexibility in mind to accommodate future technologies and curriculums.

“This building is designed to meet the needs of the Kansas City marketplace, and it’s always going to change,” said Kevin Greischar, AIA, principal for DLR Group. “As the marketplace and local industry evolve, so will this building. There are walls that are permanent, walls that are built for 10 years and ones that could come down tomorrow if need be.”

MIC held a grand-opening ceremony for its new home on Sept. 5. This debut date was also perfect timing to show off the new facility to attendees at the national EDspaces trade show, held in Kansas City, Mo., from Oct. 24-27, at which School Construction News was in attendance.

Problem Solving Is Key

From the outside, the 135,000-square-foot building features sleek aluminum sheathing and an industrial-style finish that matches the interior that is spread across two levels, featuring high ceilings and lots of windows to bring in natural light. The design was a collaboration between DLR Group as the architect of record and Gould Evans as design partner, with McCownGordon Construction serving as general contractor on the project. All three companies have offices in the Kansas City area.

The $30 million facility features 60 classrooms as well as shared spaces designed to welcome students from both STA and UCM as well as ones that are designated to specific programs: networking, engineering, medical, bio medical, graphics, hospitality and cybersecurity. Most of these spaces have moveable panels so that spaces can be combined or separated as needed. The furniture — most of which is on wheels — also encourages flexibility and movement.

“This building is probably the most specific we have been involved with, where the curriculum defined the physical space and adjacencies,” Greischar said. “The staff was already teaching in ways that a building like this would let them do but in a building that wasn’t designed for it. Instructors and learners will only flourish in this environment.”

The building was designed to have what Greischar called a “Main Street,” with neighborhoods that include a front and back porch that get a bit quieter as students make their way down the neighborhood corridor. Because the facility is designed to prepare students for the workforce, it really feels more like a Google- or Facebook-type tech office space than a college. The traditional high school environment is completely gone, with a more open concept so that classrooms are not closed off. Classrooms bleed into the hallways and vice versa allowing learning and teaching to occur everywhere.

“The real difference is that teachers give students a problem to solve, and then ask the students to solve it with the available tools,” Greischar said. “A big part of the educational experience at MIC involves collaboration and this idea that ‘you win as a team.’ The idea was to create an environment where students could go to solve problems instead of spaces where they could go to have their heads filled with lecture-style learning.”

Another aspect that Greischar said the design team had to consider was creating a space that encouraged a level of trust between parents and teachers that students could manage themselves and their own time, especially since some students at the school are only in high school and are working around college-age students. While the students typically work apart from one another, there are times when they work together, especially when MIC brings in a lecturer or other guest speaker.

One such space that truly deviates from the traditional high school setup is the upper-level lounge area with an outside terrace. It was originally conceived to be a library, but instead, it provides a place for students to plug-in and eat or chill out before starting their schoolwork.

“The new space promotes and facilitates very intentional ways to help students practice the professional skills that are needed to be successful in the workplace,” Metcalf said. “Also, the flexibility and openness of the design supports a changing curriculum of the next-generation workforce.”

To read the entire article, check out the November/December issue of School Construction News.

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