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Troy University Unveils New Fitness Venue

School News — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 14:00:09 +0000

By SCN Staff

TROY, Ala.—A dedication ceremony was recently held to celebrate the opening of Troy University’s new Trojan Fitness Center.

The 78,000-square-foot center, which officially opened its doors in January, includes a multi-activity court, a basketball court, free and circuit weight training areas, aerobic exercise rooms, an outdoor swimming pool, a multi-level walking track and four offices.

This $25 million project is a result of a student-led initiative, the center was recommended by Troy University’s Student Government Association and funded through student recreation fees.

RDG Planning & Design’s design, which was completed in partnership with Seay, Seay & Litchfield Architects (Architect-of-Record) was successful in realizing the the students’ vision to create a space supportive of creating healthy, lifelong habits. Whaley Construction Co. Inc. was the general contractor.

“The Trojan Fitness Center creates a home for the university’s Student Wellness Program and serves as a place where students can come together in wellness,” said RDG Principal and Architect Jack Patton, AIA, LEED AP.

“RDG designed the building to blend into Troy’s rich architectural fabric. It embodies the same southern hospitality we came to enjoy while helping Troy envision and create this important facility.”

Located on the corner of George Wallace Drive and University Avenue, the Trojan Fitness Center is one of the first buildings visitors encounter as they enter the campus. Designed to accommodate the fitness and recreational needs of both the students and the larger campus community, the multi-story facility offers vibrant and engaging spaces with strong indoor/outdoor connections.

An open rotunda on the northwest side offers visibility into all three levels of the facility, while a grand staircase serves as a striking visual element within the facility’s highly efficient layout design.

The design incorporates banners, dimensional art, window graphics, wall graphics and signage to create an experience that embraces the entire student body and highlights the nationalities of students who attend the university.

Photographic elements depict the Troy student’s journey—from their first day to graduation day—to the possibilities of professional life. Whimsical drawings of people in action embody the university’s motto, “Educate the mind to think, the heart to feel, and the body to act,” and are carried throughout the building as a symbol of Trojan pride.

Said University Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr., “Not only will it be instrumental in serving those who are currently enrolled, but it will also be an attraction for those who are considering where they want to spend their next four years. As we talk about recruitment and retention, this will add so much value, and there is a strong link between physical fitness and academic success.”

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DePaul Building Wins Construction Award

CHICAGO — The Chicago Building Congress (CBC) and Construction Owners Association of America (COAA) International recently recognized the DePaul University Theatre School in Chicago, Ill. 2014 with a CBC/COAA Owners’ Choice Award. International engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti served as the project’s structural engineer, while international design firms Pelli Clarke Pelli and Cannon Design contributed to the facility’s design. W.E. O’Neill Construction of Chicago served as the project’s general contractor.

Awarded since 1956, the Chicago Building Congress’ Merit Award Program celebrates achievements across the building industry. A panel of 40 CBC member volunteers judged the projects, submitted across nine categories, for safety record, impact on the community, quality of construction, and distinctive, functional or innovative design.

The five-story, 169,000 square-foot, steel and reinforced concrete building, houses a 250-seat thrust theatre, a 100-seat flexible theatre, rehearsal, scenery and costume space, classrooms, and administrative offices. Though primarily made of limestone, it also features both translucent and transparent glass, allowing passersby a glimpse of the building’s interior while also giving the building’s users a view of the surrounding community.

However, according to Thornton Tomasetti the building’s location also presented the design team with a few challenges, including a small site space and strict zoning laws in the historic Lincoln Park neighborhood. To accommodate the site while still providing the necessary square footage, the five-story building’s design includes a gradual stepping out of the higher floors from the base at the northeast corner, increasing the floor space at each level. Support for the design feature is provided by cantilevers that, with each step of the terrace, extend in length beyond the cantilever at the floor below.

According to Pelli Clarke Pelli, wide corridors, open lounges and rooftop courtyards, encourage interaction between users. An interior courtyard introduces light and air into the surrounding offices and design studios. The facility’s entrance opens into a lobby, lounge and concessions space, while the thrust theater lobby serves as the “living room” of the building, where theater patrons and students congregate.

Designed to a high level of sustainability, the facility also minimizes energy consumption through the use of fritted glass, green roof areas and daylighting for offices, design studios, and classrooms. Outdoor terraces on the upper floors also contributed to the building’s LEED Gold certification, and many recycled content and regionally sourced materials were integrated into the design.

Bob Janis, vice president for facility operations at DePaul commented in a release that the certification was no small feat, as the building contains a number of large volume spaces and operates long hours. The Theatre School was the third campus facility to earn LEED Gold.

“DePaul’s new Theatre School underscores the fact that Chicago is a great theatre city, and a great architectural city,” said Brian Imus, executive director of the U.S. Green Building Council-Illinois, in a February 2014 release. “Our city now boasts a performing arts building that is a role model for sustainability, and that deserves a thunderous round of applause.”

The facility was completed and dedicated in 2013.

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New UMSL Rec Center Packed With Amenities

ST. LOUIS — Though rainy weather impacted the November 2013 groundbreaking of the new Recreation and Wellness Center at the University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL), the area’s harsh winter weather has not disrupted the facility’s overall construction schedule. Since building began in December 2013, the project has remained on track for a fall 2015 completion and opening.

Larry Coffin, assistant director of athletics, recreational and intramural sports, told the UMSL Daily in March, “We are in the construction phase now and everything we plan is exponentially more than exists on campus today. It’s going to rival anything in the community.”

The Recreation and Wellness Center was spearheaded by the UMSL student body, and will reflect the needs and interests of the school’s growing community. Inside the angular, multi-tiered facility, students will find a three-lane inclined jogging track, a three-court gymnasium, locker rooms and multiple group fitness rooms for classes such as yoga and martial arts. Weight training and cardio centers will also be included, as will a climbing and bouldering wall, zip line, and a six-lane fitness and recreational swimming pool.

UMSL students have been very involved in the planning process for the new Recreation and Wellness Center, and groups of faculty and students have visited neighboring facilities to generate design ideas. The students voted in 2012 to fund the project through a more than $19 increase in per credit fees. All enrolled students will be free to use the new facility, though faculty and staff will be required to pay membership fees. At the groundbreaking ceremony, UMSL Chancellor Tom George specifically thanked the students who voted to finance the center and acknowledged the role each played in enhancing campus life for future students.

Dean of Students Miriam Roccia, who also participated in the idea-generating facility visits, told the USML Daily, “We are designing a building that will be here for a long time. It will operate 16 to 18 hours a day and provide great opportunities for student recreation, fitness and employment.”

The facility was planned by Cannon Design of St. Louis, which previously worked with the university system on the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Missouri Rolla. River City Construction LLC of East Peoria, Ill., is serving as the project’s general contractor. The firm has also constructed a variety of facilities at the university’s Columbia campus.

The $36 million building is being constructed on the site of two former parking lots just south of the school’s existing Millennium Student Center on the North Campus. The roughly 100,000-square-foot structure is designed to meet LEED Silver certification requirements. Those interested in following the construction of this new facility can view a live stream here.

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DePaul’s Theatre School Achieves LEED Gold

CHICAGO — The Theatre School at DePaul University achieved LEED Gold certification earlier this month, becoming Chicago’s first performing arts building to achieve that level of certification.
The 165,000-square-foot Theatre School debuted in time for the 2013-2014 school year. The facility has been in development since 2001, but the school had needed a proper facility for decades, said John Culbert, dean of the Theatre School.
For more than 30 years, the Theatre School’s “temporary” home has been a former elementary school with additional offices and classrooms in a nearby, reconverted nunnery. The new facility — designed by joint venture New Haven, Conn.-based Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and Cannon Design, with offices in Chicago — now incorporates a variety of classroom and theater spaces located under one roof.
The first goal of the project was to build a facility that could support the quality level of training available to students at what is considered one of the top professional theater conservatory programs in the U.S. The second goal was to provide a venue that engages the community. “We were [performing] in all kinds of venues but not on the campus, which was not an effective way to engage the DePaul community or our neighbors, Culbert said.
The new five-story school features two theaters, the 250-seat Fullerton state theater and the 100-seat black box Healy theater, as well as 10 acting laboratories and three dedicated rehearsal spaces, each sized to mimic the dimensions of the school’s three different stages (the two new ones and the 1,325-seat Merle Reskin Theatre, where DePaul students continue to perform).
The greatest challenge for the project was that it was located on a tight space for how much the program required. Both space restraint issues and a height restriction in the neighborhood posed problems in terms of making sure each space had acoustical separation.
“The building is tall for a theater building, so there was a lot of careful stacking of spaces,” said Robert Shook, founding partner of Chicago-based Schuler Shook, which served as the theater planning consultant. “A lot of that had to be done with the notion of acoustical separations in mind. It was very important that noise not get transmitted. The Pelli office spent an inordinate amount of time coordinating all of the things that live in the ceilings of these spaces to get as much efficiency to the height of the building as they could.”
The facility features green building elements such as frit glass throughout the building, daylighting elements and a green roof. An interior courtyard, as well as rooftop courtyards, bring light, views and air into the offices and design studios, which is atypical of a theater school.
Perhaps the best example of daylighting is in the fourth-floor Healy theater, which features a glass wall with views of downtown Chicago. The atypical window wall provides light during rehearsals and will possibly be incorporated into future productions, but a system of curtains and shades also darkens the theater when necessary.
“Due to the outstanding efforts of the design and commissioning team, and the project’s contractor, we were awarded LEED Gold,” said Bob Janis, vice president for facility operations at the university, in a statement. “This is no small feat with a building that contains so many large volume spaces and operates long hours.”

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New Student Recreation Center Underway at UCR

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The University of California, Riverside (UCR) is embarking on a $32.5 million project that will expand and modernize its recreation center on campus.

Los Angeles-based general contractor C.W. Driver has recently started construction on the new student recreation center, which involves 9,000 square feet of renovations to the existing recreation center and more than 80,000 square feet of new construction in order to expand its offerings to the university community.

The project is targeted to receive LEED Silver certification and construction is slated for completion in January 2015. The Los Angeles office of Cannon Design served as the architect for the project. The design expands the university’s existing recreation center, giving students access to new and improved fitness and well-being equipment and activities.

“This new structure will offer a comprehensive facility for the campus that involves creating new spaces while revitalizing the existing areas,” said Brett Curry, vice president of operations for C.W. Driver. “Blending the new space into the existing structure presents a unique construction challenge for this project, which when complete will be presented as an integrated, yet expanded and revitalized recreation center that UCR can be very proud of.”

The existing 9,000-square-foot structure on the lower level will be upgraded to include new offices, administration areas and training and multipurpose rooms. The expansive two-story addition will connect to the existing facility with a new bridge between the upper floors, while the existing facility will receive expansive upgrades.

Most of the existing fitness equipment will be moved to the new two-story addition, which will feature an indoor track, indoor climbing and bouldering wall, additional indoor courts, a new MAC gym, a fitness lab and massage therapy room, new weight and cardio equipment, a demonstration kitchen and multi-purpose rooms. UCR’s traditional blend brick will be used in the construction of a new circular locker room structure. The second floor will have views of the new 5,000-square-foot outdoor pool and deck, new sand volleyball courts, tennis courts and field space, as well as views of the Box Springs Mountains to the east.

“Because of the location, we need to incorporate the best use of natural light, as well as natural heating and cooling which will support the building’s sustainability efforts,” Curry said. “UCR’s blend brick is a traditional component that we will incorporate so that the new building is reflective of the campus traditions, but feels new and exciting with modern materials as well.”

Materials for construction will revolve around UCR’s blend brick, a campus requirement, which will be featured prominently on the opaque volumes at the ground level. The upper level will use a combination of curtainwall glazing and metal panels, and will feature vertical screening devices and overhangs to provide sun protection for the multiple solar orientations of the undulating façade. By utilizing different screen shapes and patterns along the curvature of the second floor, the facility will maximize the use of natural light while keeping cooling and heating costs to a minimum during peak hours, helping the facility achieve its targeted LEED Silver certification.

“The project’s location puts the site adjacent to not just existing sports facilities and thoroughfares, but also right against the existing Recreation Center building which will remain in use until the completion of construction,” said Brian DeMartino, senior project manager for C.W. Driver. “This poses a great challenge for construction because we will be installing utilities around the existing building, working in and around the existing facility, and building a new structure only a few feet from the existing occupied spaces.”

The new recreation center is expected to be a highlight of the campus and is currently running on time and on schedule for its 2015 opening.

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Green Building Benefits

Stuart Brodsky has dedicated his 25-year career at Cannon Design in Chicago to designing and planning educational facilities. At a firm renowned for its K-12 expertise, Brodsky’s projects have received national recognition by organizations such as the American Institute of Architects, the Council for Educational Facility Planners and the American Association of School Administrators. He served on the task force for the development of the Illinois Resource Guide for Healthy High Performing Schools with the Healthy School Campaign. He currently co-chairs the Illinois Chapter USGBC Green School Advocates Committee and serves on the advisory board of the Green School National Network. Brodsky has taught extension courses on green schools and frequently lectures to community and professional organizations on sustainability issues.

Q: What LEED projects have you recently completed and what was unique about these designs?
A: We recently received LEED Gold certification at the Booker T. Washington STEM Academy in Champaign, Ill., and finished the first LEED-EB (LEED certification for Existing Buildings) Gold High School at A.E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Ill. For the A.E. Stevenson LEED-EB project, it was more about creating and maintaining energy efficiency throughout the school. School officials worked closely with the design team to see themselves at the end of the certification period and into the future. They also had a goal of finding opportunities to integrate the LEED certification project with the curriculum, so the vision and goal-setting process allowed them to do that. In order to receive LEED-EB certification, certain prerequisites and standards needed to be met, including energy efficiency best management practices, outdoor introduction and exhaust systems and some sort of green cleaning policy, among a list of about nine prerequisites.

Booker T. Washington received LEED Gold certification in April. It’s a magnet school, focusing on STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The project has high levels of performance not only on an education side but also on an energy side, and that was important to the school district. They wanted to implement energy performance measures in many existing schools with lighting retrofits and wanted to install geothermal HVAC units in existing schools. Energy targets were established with the project. That was an important initial phase of the process, to establish a high-performance direction for the project, because it not only was the best thing for the future, but it allowed them to access grant-funding opportunities that exist in Illinois.

Setting goals for LEED certification allowed them to access grants, including one from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. The other goal they had set early on in the process, even before we were selected, was that they wanted the new schools in the district to be LEED-certified. They share the same goal as A.E. Stevenson, of wanting to utilize the building to unite the community and involve the community in a transparent process.

Q: What is the 2030 commitment and how do schools meet this standard?
A: There’s an organization called Architecture 2030 that created something called the 2030 Challenge. It was a challenge that was put out there to help anybody designing or building a building to have a benchmark for how energy-efficient that building needs to be now, and with an end goal of having buildings that are eventually carbon neutral. Given where we are with technology today and the cost of the systems that exist right now, it’s difficult for most clients to achieve that. So what Architecture 2030 did was create a step program where there’s a new threshold that’s set every five years between now and 2030. For buildings that are built between 2010 and 2015, the goal is to have a 60 percent reduction from an average building. Booker T. Washington meets that reduction, and incidentally, this is a goal that wasn’t necessarily set by the client. There’s also something called the 2030 commitment — a program started by the American Institute of Architects that firms sign on to as a commitment to measure the performance of the buildings they design. Cannon Design is a signatory of that program.

Q: Have you ever worked on a LEED-EB project before your recent project at A.E. Stevenson? What challenges were you faced with?
A: This isn’t the firm’s (Cannon Design) first LEED-EB facility, but it is the first one that I have personally worked on and it’s the first school that we have done that way in our office.
The challenges of LEED-EB are not so much in the design process as it is in the targeting and goal setting. It’s not a new building so you don’t have as much control over the process, and it’s a process of working with the client and having to develop a series of policies and procedures and essentially changing their culture to become greener and more sustainable. These definitely are not negative challenges. They’re all good challenges, and the goal becomes, “How do you operate to become more sustainable in lieu of what we’re accustomed to?” — which is typically to design something to meet a standard. LEED-EB is a unique system where we have to work with our clients to help them operate differently.

Q: How has the concept of sustainable building evolved over your 25-year career?
A: I think early on when we first started designing LEED-certified designs — back in 2001 to 2003, when LEED first started kicking in — the goals were usually more modest to become only LEED-certified. What LEED has done, though, is really transform the marketplace so that the industry is all rallied around sustainability and measuring where you are.

When LEED projects first started, none of that really existed to the degree it does now. Now you can find LEED-certified materials easier and there have been improvements in system design in the last decade with available technology at lower cost. We’ve seen LEED adopted by more clients and recognized as being something that can help improve the quality of the building without necessarily adding a significant cost, whereas early on there was a perception that it only added cost and you might not get any payback or benefits from being LEED-certified. LEED has also branched out and LEED-EB was not really being implemented on school projects back then, it’s really been more recent. There’s a big push now to green all the existing buildings in the country. The Green Building Council estimates that there are 133,000 schools in the U.S. and they have a vision of seeing every student in a green school in this generation, so there are a lot of schools we need to green every year. The adoption of LEED-EB has become more of a focus more recently in schools than it has in the past. The focus used to be “You can’t really do anything unless you’re building a new building.” Now that philosophy has really changed.

Q: How much do schools save by implementing green building materials or schools that are LEED certified?
A: Typically, a LEED school is going to be 25 to 50 percent better in energy use than a co-compliant school. States have certain standards, and for Illinois, Booker T. Washington School is 35 percent better than that standard. That’s a comparison for when you build a new building, but for existing buildings the tool that they’re measured against right now is called a Consumer Builder Index. The Green Building Council has estimated that the average green building has a 35 percent reduction in carbon emissions. A LEED building shouldn’t have to cost you more money just to design it to meet LEED standards. However, there are some systems that will cost facilities more upfront — like a geothermal system, for example.

Q: What are some options for schools that don’t necessarily have the funds for high cost energy efficient upgrades?
A: There are a lot of sources out there that give many different ideas and usually those are referred to as the 10 low-cost or no-cost improvements. They can be really simple things like managing their energy use and scheduling it and seeing where energy is used in the building — it’s a simple operational change that can be made and doesn’t necessarily cost more money, it just requires a thought process and plan of how to do it. Also, having regular maintenance on your mechanical system will help it operate more efficiently. Educating students and teachers also helps to benefit the energy efficiency of a school by simple things like turning the lights off. There are programs out there that have proven that if a school went through an educational program they can actually change behavior within the building and allow students and teachers to take responsibility for energy use in the building.

Q: What is the future of LEED buildings?
A: LEED is constantly improving the standards and the way they measure performance. There’s a strong interest in looking beyond the building itself. Two examples of that include looking at the life cycle and how efficient the building is over time, and there’s also an interest in looking at the effect of the source of the energy fuel that’s being used. There’s also a real strong interest in studying and ramping up the understanding of toxicity of materials and developing new materials and better standards for what compounds are going into our materials and how they affect health in our building. I think that over time, we’ll measure and understand the materials we have and also set goals.

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Stephen Johnson

School News — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:17:01 +0000

Cannon Design, an international design firm, recently announced Stephen Johnson, FAIA, principal and leader of the firm’s Boston office, has achieved the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows Medal. Johnson has developed projects in 10 countries and on over 40 campuses around the world. His work has been honored with four national AIA Honor Awards for Design, and two Honor Awards from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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