Buro Happold Archives - School Construction News

New UC Berkeley Center for Disabled Students Will Aim for LEED Gold

School News — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 11:50:34 +0000

By Eric Althoff

BERKELEY, Calif.—Design firm LEDDY MAYTUM STACY Architects will reimagine the University of California, Berkeley’s Dwinelle Annex Renovation as the new home of the Center for the University’s Disabled Students’ Program (DSP) as the DSP has outgrown its current space.

The architect will oversee efforts to retrofit the annex building for earthquake preparedness, as well as perform other safety improvements. Additionally, the 9,000-square-foot renovation will enhance capabilities for disabled students and consolidate staff currently spread out at different buildings into a single location. The new DSP will be able to service more than 4,000 students when completed.

LEDDY MAYTUM STACY’s plan calls for a redesigned entry plaza that blends seamlessly with the new lobby. The east and west wings will connect on the second floor via a transparent passageway that allows people to see both in as well as out. Additionally, the building abuts a nearby creek, which thereby blends Berkeley’s urban setting with Northern California’s natural beauty.

Project partners will include Sherwood Design Engineers, Forell | Elsesser, The Engineering Enterprise, SGH and Buro Happold. The renovation project, which aims to attain LEED Gold, is projected to be completed later this year.

The post New UC Berkeley Center for Disabled Students Will Aim for LEED Gold appeared first on School Construction News.

Buro Happold Helps Lead Numerous Higher-Ed Sustainability Projects

School News — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 14:32:01 +0000

By SCN Staff

LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK, N.Y., April 13, 2020—Reflecting its innovative, multidisciplinary, approach to sustainable campuses, buildings and places, the integrated engineering consultancy Buro Happold has announced a number of major new sustainability-driven higher education projects underway at colleges and universities across the United States that address the climate emergency the world is currently facing.

Developed in collaboration with leading architecture firms – including Grimshaw Architects, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), Moore Ruble Yudell, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ), KieranTimberlake, Behnisch Architekten, Snøhetta, Henning Larsen and others – Buro Happold’s new university projects range in scale from standalone academic buildings to larger educational complexes to entire multiphase campus master plans. Buro Happold also leads campus sustainability plans, a critical new specialty. The firm also brings decades of experience with environmental modeling, strategic mobility planning, engineered systems design, and pioneering use of structural materials and construction methods for iconic, highly sustainable campus buildings.

Engaged with a number of higher education clients, Buro Happold is helping to develop comprehensive sustainability plans, such as at the University of North Carolina, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of California, San Diego. The firm is also providing expertise on sustainability and wellbeing, outdoor thermal comfort, and pedestrian flow modeling for College of the Desert’s new Palm Springs campus.

As a result of the firm’s commitment to a net-zero carbon future and its focus on human wellbeing, Buro Happold has emerged as the leading provider of sustainability services for forward-looking colleges and universities throughout the country. The firm’s success in the higher education sector with a number of repeat clients is underscored by a multidisciplinary approach to planning and design coupled with demonstrated expertise managing complex project stakeholder relationships across all scales.

Notable recent university work includes:

Washington University in St. Louis.: Buro Happold has provided integrated engineering services that incorporate the principles of sustainable design with attention to energy efficiency, low-impact materials, reuse and recycling, quality and durability, and health and wellness for nine structures across this campus.

Among these notable works, Buro Happold provided extensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and egress modeling for the Olin Business School. Designed by Moore Ruble Yudell with Mackey Mitchell Architects, it is one of the first passively smoke-vented atriums in the United States. Most recently, Buro Happold’s scope of work on the 18-acre East End Campus included partnering again with Moore Ruble Yudell and Mackey Mitchell to design Jubel Hall as well as with architects KieranTimberlake on four structures including two glazed pavilions, Weil Hall, and an expansion of Kemper Art Museum.

Arizona State University, Phoenix: Buro Happold is providing integrated engineering services including structures and mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems along with energy modeling, lighting and daylighting design, and sustainability consulting for the 55,000-square-foot Thunderbird School of Global Management. Designed by Moore Ruble Yudell and Jones Studio, the building is in construction and expected to open in 2021, and represents just one of three projects at ASU involving Buro Happold’s full multidisciplinary services. Others include the Ennead-designed ASU Beus Center for Law & Society in downtown Phoenix, recently completed and pursuing LEED Gold, as well as Grimshaw’s new Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 7, which is scheduled to open in late 2021 and is pursuing LEED Gold.

University of California, Los Angeles: With 30 projects on University of California campuses and 16 at UCLA alone, Buro Happold has provided integrated expertise on a wide range of facilities on campus including general classrooms, professional schools, state-of- the-art labs, and housing. Most recently, the firm delivered MEP and fire-protection engineering, IT services, lighting design, daylight modeling and energy modeling for the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science’s new laboratory complex, housing the 60,000-square-foot Western Institute of Nanotechnology on Green Engineering and the 90,000-square-foot Computer Science department. Along with significant energy cost savings, Buro Happold also specified solar renewable and water-recycling technologies to dramatically minimize energy and water consumption for the LEED Gold- certified complex.

Cornell Tech, Roosevelt Island, N.Y.: Buro Happold provided feasibility studies, energy analysis and passive systems design as well as MEP and structural engineering and lighting design for The House at Cornell Tech, a 26-floor housing tower designed by Handel Architects, that is the world’s largest and tallest Passive House-certified residential building. The House is part of Cornell University’s larger urban island campus, which Buro Happold is also helping develop according to the university’s wider commitment to innovative sustainability. Buro Happold also recently partnered with international architecture firm Snøhetta to deliver the Verizon Executive Education Center – a conference center “suited for visionary thinkers” that blends high design and human-centered technology, expected to open this year.

The post Buro Happold Helps Lead Numerous Higher-Ed Sustainability Projects appeared first on School Construction News.

Rutgers 2030 Master Plan Finds University Going Green

School News — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 14:00:15 +0000

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — With a new emphasis on environmental conservation, New Jersey’s Rutgers University might have to change its traditional school color from scarlet to green.

According to a master plan released on the university’s website, the initiative, entitled Rutgers 2030, is a comprehensive re-envisioning of the campus that includes recommendations for “the functional, physical and psychological connections within and between campus districts as well as to the surrounding community and natural ecosystem.”

Rutgers also plans to update its transit student centers, housing, athletics facilities and on-campus transit hubs in an earth-friendly manner within the next 15 years.

“As far as construction, we adhere to the U.S. Green Building Council’s guidelines for LEED-rated Silver buildings, which are integrated into our design standards and construction guidelines, and collectively serve to reduce our overall carbon footprint,” said Frank Wong, assistant vice president of University Facilities and Capital Planning to the Daily Targum, a local news service. “We source materials within a 500-mile radius, and seek to use recycled materials in construction.”

As Wong explained, the university, which was originally founded as Queen’s College in pre-revolution 1766, has committed to installing 33 acres of solar panels on campus as well as promoting a variety of carbon-neutral transportation alternatives like bicycling. Moreover, initiatives are afoot to better use open space adjacent to nearby Raritan River.

The university sought input from a broad array of stakeholders while devising Rutgers 2030. About 8,000 members of the surrounding community were surveyed, likewise, more than 30 presentations and town hall meetings were conducted. Ditto meetings with administrators, faculty and groups, including the University Committee for Sustainability, which includes student representation. Energy Conservation Manager Michael Kornitas continues to meet with student groups regularly as well.

Diminishing the use of fossil fuels in relation to the campus is also on the agenda. Since such energy sources produce carbon emissions, the university’s master plan outlines the redevelopment of transportation infrastructure with an emphasis on non-vehicle transportation like biking and walking to help shrink the carbon footprint.

The master plan consulting team included New York-based Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Toscano Clements Taylor, Massachusetts-based Sasaki Associates and VHB, and San Francisco-based Buro Happold.

The post Rutgers 2030 Master Plan Finds University Going Green appeared first on School Construction News.

New Student Center Is Catalyst for Sustainability at Central New Mexico Community College

By Steven Lichtenberger, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP. Lichtenberger is a managing principal for the architecture department in the Phoenix office of AECOM and serves as principal in charge of project management for selected projects. He has more than 30 years of experience in designing and developing major architectural and interior design projects.

The newly completed student resource center at Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque incorporates sustainable features into an academic environment, paving the way for a new era of planning and development at the fast-growing urban institution.

Located on the main campus, one of the community college’s five campuses, the center opened last fall on the site of an underused baseball field. The design team, including college facility managers and consultants, created student-oriented spaces that intersect inside and outside the structure to establish a vibrant hub of learning. The center is also positioned in the sight of the new campus park, which was previously the outfield of the baseball diamond and is now the central campus lawn and student-gathering place.

As the first building built on the college’s main campus in nearly 20 years, the student resource center provides a long-needed student-centered building in the middle of campus — and serves as a solid foundation for the campus’ future growth.

The Campus Evolves

Set in the heart of Albuquerque, the main campus bustles with activity. More than 16,000 of school’s nearly 28,000 students attend classes at this urban campus, where the college first opened in 1965. The main campus is within walking distance of the University of New Mexico and about a mile from both downtown and the lively Nob Hill district. What began as a technical and vocational institute more than 40 years ago, Central New Mexico Community College has grown into New Mexico’s premier community college with a larger student enrollment than the University of New Mexico.

As the campus grew from a tech school into a community college, its approach to facility operations has also evolved. School administrators have increasingly focused on the need to modernize and upgrade the buildings. Envisioned as a social catalyst and iconic hub for the urban campus, the student resource center plays a seminal role in the campus’ future facilities planning. But it also encourages the college to more firmly embrace sustainability.

Designed in harmony with its environment, the glass, brick and concrete masonry building is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council and seeking LEED Silver certification.

Sustainability in Center DNA

Because “green” planning was an integral part of the project’s design from the beginning, sustainability is in the center’s DNA. To make the most of natural light, large windows along the center’s northern face provide sunlight and panoramic views of the park and surrounding natural environment. As a result, there is little need for artificial lighting during the day. Most light bulbs are light-emitting diodes (LED), which use less energy and last longer than normal bulbs, and light sensors turn on lights when it’s dark or overcast.

The building has a variety of sustainable features that include floor and ceiling materials, doors, countertops and low volatile organic compound paints. Other sustainable features include:

– The building’s positioning on the site, which absorbs more sunlight in the winter and less in the summer to reduce the need for heating/cooling.
– Recycled materials in glass, tile floors, countertops and other building materials.
– Bamboo, a rapidly renewable resource used for interior wood trim.
– Heat-neutralizing techniques in landscaping and roofing. The cool roof is white, which helps reduce energy costs by reflecting instead of absorbing sunlight. The sod and grass north of the center also disperses the sun’s heat and earns LEED points for preserving open space.
The building engineering team also prioritized energy efficiency in designing the air-handling systems, which are made up of these features:
– A variable primary pumping system with energy-efficient chillers.
– Boilers with an annual fuel usage efficiency of 87 percent.
– All fan-powered VAV boxes have energy-efficient, electronically commutated motors.
– Air-handling units have 100 percent outside air economizers.
– Air-handling units have demand control ventilation and adjust the outside air that flows into the building, based on its CO2 levels.
– Low-emitting refrigerants on all mechanical equipment.

Intelligent design and sustainability also extends to the landscape, which is made up of native plants.

The plants chosen for the project, such as prickly pear, agave, sage and sumac, thrive in the desert environment, where the average rainfall is just eight inches a year. Because water is a highly valued commodity in this area, low-flow bubbler irrigation is used to water the project’s high-desert landscape. This system, known as deep-root watering, concentrates water on the plant’s roots instead of watering the whole plant.

Other examples of water efficiency can be seen in the bathrooms, which have low-flow and waterless fixtures, sensor-operated faucets (0.5 gallons per minute flow for ultra-low water consumption) and water closet flush valves.

The Location Challenge

Initially, the project was to be built was on the edge of the campus. Then the design team decided to use the seldom-used baseball field owned by the city of Albuquerque. After a year of negotiating, the field became the new site.

Built on a 4.15-acre site, the 103,700-square-foot, two-story center brings together under one roof several functions that needed a new home. These include a library, the Assistance Center for Education tutoring commons, new offices for the information technology services department, a new main campus data center, computer classrooms, a multi-purpose conference and lecture space with outdoor reception balcony, and general use and building support spaces.

The building serves primarily as the main campus library, which alone spans approximately 35,500 square feet and has more than 60,000 volumes. The library has the latest wireless and digital technologies, as well as group study areas and carefully detailed interior spaces.

An interior bridge connects the library with the tutoring commons, which also serves as a casual gathering area for socializing, wireless Internet surfing, studying, readings, receptions, and other social gatherings and special events.

The Resource Center is the recipient of the PRIDE 2011 Award of Merit, Education Category, from the Southwest Chapter of the International Interior Design Association; the “Design Is…” 2011 Award from the Shaw Contract Group; the American Institute of Architects, New Mexico Chapter’s Special Recognition Award; and the Engineering News Record Best 2011 Projects, Best Higher Education/Research Project, Merit Award. At Central New Mexico Community College, the student resource center has distinguished itself as the future of the campus’ facilities planning.

The post New Student Center Is Catalyst for Sustainability at Central New Mexico Community College appeared first on School Construction News.