The modern and visually engaging building features 35 research and teaching laboratories, 9,000 square feet of faculty research space, a 273-seat auditorium and a three-story green roof. Los Angeles-based CO Architects served as the architect on the project, while Pasadena, Calif.-headquartered C.W. Driver served as general contractor and locally based Anthony Mason & Associates was the project’s construction manager.

The project team was primarily charged with upgrading the university’s science facilities in a way that would keep the university competitive in the sciences, accommodate growing interest in the field and ultimately meet the needs of students seeking a high-caliber science education, according to Tina Choe, dean of the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering at LMU.

“The new building has come to embody the university’s commitment to the sciences and the community,” Choe added. “The building promotes best practices in science education in a setting that incorporates some of the latest technologies. The building’s design facilitates active, hands-on experimental work.”

Programmatically, the university moved the science departments from an existing building that didn’t allow for easy or fluid interaction between the various disciplines, according to Arnold Swanborn, LEED AP BD+C, associate principal at CO Architects. “The primary goal was to create a building with an understanding that science is changing and is more interdisciplinary — or rather transdisciplinary,” he said. “The second thing is to really have the building be a tool for teaching, so it’s a building for science but also for natural science and botany.”

A Transparent Design
The facility was designed with new technologies to promote collaboration. Laboratory and research space take the place of traditional classrooms so that students will learn science by putting it into practice and integrating concepts with hands-on work to prepare future scientists.
The project’s objective to put science on display was achieved through openness and transparency in the design. This was carried out not only on the interior of the building via research and teaching labs configured with floor-to-ceiling glass storefronts allowing students to observe what their peers are working on, according to Matthew Wilt, project manager at C.W. Driver, but also on the exterior with an auditorium that features an overhead green roof terrace that functions as an outdoor living laboratory.

“We used a lot of glass, so there’s a lot of transparency from the corridor into the classroom,” Swanborn added. “Science used to be behind doors and walls, but now it’s on display and becomes an interactive layer. That was a pretty important thing for us and involved a lot of relocation and rethinking of the laboratories. Lab planners and professors worked with us to make it a very open building.”

“In a reinterpretation of the classic Spanish Revival vernacular of the campus, we wrapped the program around an active central courtyard, while incorporating a three-story green roof connecting to outdoor terraces,” added Paul Zajfen, FAIA, design principal at CO Architects.

The C.W. Driver team had to account for the hundreds of thousands of pounds of weight created by the green roof, which rests on top of the steel-structured auditorium. To ensure the building would not droop or deflect once the green roof was added, the team used cables to ground and preload the steel structure to account for the future weight prior to installation, Wilt said.

Sustainable design and construction were also key elements of the project. Initially, the university’s goal was to achieve LEED Silver certification, but the project ultimately achieved LEED Gold through a number of measures taken to minimize its environmental impact. For example, the project features more than 8,200 square feet of solar panels that produce approximately 10 percent of the facility’s energy needs. Swanborn added that a significant amount of natural daylight was also introduced into the lab spaces.

Safety & Security
As the building houses sensitive scientific tools, materials and activities, the CO Architects team took specific safety concerns into account during the design process. For instance, Swanborn said that the design team carefully considered how the students would work with explosive and flammable chemicals — not what you would typically consider in a classroom building. In response, the team included things like gas and electrical shutoffs as well as safety showers in every lab. Standard laboratory fume hoods, which Swanborn considers a first line of defense against inhaling toxic chemicals, were included throughout. Other key security elements include security cameras and secure entrances.

Read more about this project in the upcoming June Safety & Security issue of School Construction News, available soon.
 

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The energy efficient Science Building, constructed by McCarthy Building Companies of Atlanta, will provide the school with ample new high-tech instruction and research space critical for the Natural Sciences Department, as the university has grown from 4,675 students in 2001 to more than 7,200 students today, according to a statement by project architect The S/L/A/M Collaborative Inc. (SLAM) of Atlanta. Thus far, university officials have been required to use waiting lists for lab courses due to the high demand from students and the low inventory of available lab classrooms.

With the addition of the new three-story Science Building, Clayton State can now offer 19 instructional labs, nine research labs, two new 64-seat classrooms and two new 36-seat classrooms. The building also houses offices and support spaces, a vivarium, mechanical penthouse, mechanical basement and a loading dock. It is designed as a modern home for the sciences complete with stacked biology and chemistry suites which integrate research, prep and teaching labs, according to SLAM.

Located near a small pond on the hilly campus, the new Science Building takes advantage of its natural setting, absorbing daylight from across the water via glazed areas in the public spaces. Sustainable initiatives include sun shading, daylight harvesting, and use of recycled materials and rainwater.

Reflective of its goal to promote scientific innovation and education, the Science Building was also designed to achieve Georgia Peach Green Building certification. This certification recognizes facilities owned or managed by the State of Georgia that optimize energy performance, increase the demand for local materials and furnishings, improve environmental quality, conserve energy, protect Georgia’s natural resources and reduce the burden on the state’s water supply, according to a statement by McCarthy.

“Engaging undergraduate students in research is an essential part of their preparation for careers in the natural sciences and health sciences,” said Dr. Tim Hynes, president of Clayton State University, in a statement. “The innovative laboratory teaching spaces in this building will expand our support of undergraduate research projects where faculty and students work side-by-side in the learning and exploration process. Providing these opportunities not only benefit those in our science majors, they also impact allied health students and every student on campus who takes a lab science course for their core requirements.”

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As schools are turning more and more to modular buildings for students (more than 7.5 million students are being taught in temporary classrooms, according to Perkins + Will), the architecture firm decided to enhance the space in order to eliminate energy and construction costs, while creating a healthier learning environment.

The Sprout Space is an affordable modular classroom that meets students’ needs for 21st century learning. The design was first noticed during the Open Architecture Challenge, where it placed first in the modular category.

The building is designed to have a functional classroom inside and encourages various teaching styles and room arrangements. Flexibility is a key function of the space, as it consists of outdoor teaching walls to better engage students.

Instead of looking at the modular building as a temporary structure — the Sprout Space can be implemented as a permanent structure. Chattahoochee Hills Charter School (CHCS), near Atlanta, is composed entirely of Sprout Space classrooms.

“Designing a sustainable future is our passion at Perkins+Will, and we offer the Sprout Space classroom as an example to the world of a more responsible modular classroom,” said Phil Harrison, president and chief executive officer of Perkins+Will. “The development and launch of Sprout Space is another milestone for us as we continue to be a global leader in green building innovation and at the forefront of both K-12 and higher education classroom design.”

Sprout Space offers sun shades, integrated rainwater collection, photovoltaic roof panels, LED lighting coupled with lighting controls, and efficient heating and cooling systems. The goal of Sprout Space is for it to eventually be an energy independent classroom.

The first Sprout Space was built in the U.S. with distributor Triumph Modular and building by Mark Line Industries. It is the first high-performance modular classroom on the market and is available nationwide.

In case your school doesn’t have Sprout Space classrooms yet, you can always go visit them on display on the lawn of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., starting March 3 and staying until the end of the year. The Sprout Space is sure to become a major attraction in the museum’s Green Schools exhibit.

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“Over 75 percent of respondents consider improving indoor air quality and enhancing health and well being as key drivers, which is nearly the same percentage that cite financial benefits, such as lower operating costs and reduced energy use,” said Harvey Bernstein, vice president, Industry Insights and Alliances for McGraw-Hill Construction, in a press release statement. “In the K-12 sector, social factors are particularly prominent, with over 75 percent of respondents also citing increased student performance as an important element of their decision to build green.”

Respondents cited other social benefits for green building such as:
• Improved test scores, reported by 70 percent of K-12 respondents
• Increased enrollment, reported by 39 percent of higher education respondents
• Increased reputation, reported by 65 percent of higher education
• Positive impact on student health and well-being, reported by all K-12 respondents and 90 percent of higher education respondents

Cost savings are also important to the education sector, with more than 75 percent of survey respondents in both K-12 and higher education saying that the reduction in energy use, operational savings and improvement of 10-year operating costs are reasons for their decisions to build green. Of those that decided to build green, 58 percent of staff administrators at K-12 schools reported decreased energy use in the updated buildings and 55 percent cited lower annual costs. Of those surveyed from the higher education sector, 55 percent reported decreased energy use and 46 percent reported lower annual costs.

The study also revealed that 81 percent of respondents for the K-12 sector completed some kind of green project in the last three years and 84 percent reported doing green renovations. However, more than 40 percent of both K-12 and higher education surveyors said that they are unaware of the long-term impact of the improvements, implying that better measures need to be set in place to quantify the return on investment.

The findings from the study help organizations like the USGBC plot the course for how “we’re going to make good on our promise to put every student in a green school within this generation,” said Rachel Gutter, director of the Center for Green Schools at the USGBC.

This is the second study that the USGBC worked on with McGraw-Hill to produce. The first one was in 2007 and allowed the organization to understand and tackle the misperception that green building costs more. What the 2012 study has shown is that “school districts are contending with other perceptive challenges, including access to capital and creative financing mechanisms and data on how their schools are performing that they can use to course correct, as well as evaluate the relative success of their mission,” Gutter added.

The USGBC is addressing these concerns from various angles. “We do a variety of trainings and train the trainers who have serviced school districts that collectively are school homes to millions of students, to think about how they optimize operations and maintenance practices.”

Gutter believed these two studies helped demonstrate that the industry is reaching a point where green building will become the norm as opposed to the exception. “I think what we’ve been able to do is convince most of the necessary parties that it doesn’t make sense to [build] any other way. We’ve been able to persuade people to understand that these are simply best practices for quality schools, but people continue to see green as an add-on or a luxury instead of find ways to integrate it into everything they do,” Gutter said. “That’s where the work needs to happen on everything from supplying data on performance to working to create those scalable financing mechanisms to providing information to legislatures so they can write better bills.”

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Now, Trane, a leading global provider of indoor comfort systems and solutions is serving as the exclusive industry sponsor to CHPS for the second year in a row, and will focus on the movement’s Operations Report Card.

The Operations Report Card is part of CHPS, which benchmarks and improves the performance of school buildings. Trane will also work to expand its reach of the CHPS Criteria, which focuses on new school construction and major modernizations.

“Trane is collaborating with CHPS to bring the Operations Report Card and CHPS Criteria to more districts and states so that more schools can achieve their goal of becoming high performance schools,” said Bill Orr, executive director of CHPS in a statement. “The solutions and methodology that Trane offers are closely aligned with the CHPS’ approach to high performance schools. Trane is not only a financial sponsor of CHPS, they are also an active collaborator and bring new tools and programs to schools across the United States.”

Currently there are 86 completed CHPS schools across America with another 300 schools underway in the U.S. seeking CHPS recognition.

Along with Trane there are over 225 organizations that are members of CHPS including utility companies, professional design and construction firms, product manufacturers, non-profit organizations, schools and school districts, and professional societies.

Trane is helping to support CHPS by including additional modules for the assessment of waste reduction and water use; better usability online and in the iPhone app, ORC Mobile; and a new look online and on the app. The Trane sponsorship will support a limited number of scholarships that will allow more schools to take advantage of this tool.

“We’re excited about this joint effort focused on improving student performance. Through the use of CHPS’ clear, metric driven building measurements, we’re able to leverage the 50 years of experience that Trane offers in delivering high performance buildings to create better schools,” said Rick Walter, Trane High Performance Building program leader.

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“We are very pleased to have earned this recognition on behalf of the owner and the project team,” said Greg Wilkinson, co-chairman of the Board of Hill & Wilkinson. “Being the only Texas project also makes us proud of our team’s accomplishments.”

This isn’t the only award that the university project has received. The student services building was recognized with the Accessibility Award, presented by the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities and Accessibility Professionals Association, and other sustainability and safety awards for the project.

The 74,000-square-foot building has a total of six sustainability awards and the feedback from those at the university is positive and also thankful for the recognition.

“…This recognition reflects UT Dallas’ commitment to sustainability and the talents of an outstanding project team, including Perkins + Will, the design architects,” said Wilkinson.

The construction of the student services building has students appreciating the design as well as taking some credit for the project itself.

“What is most gratifying to me is the fact that this building, which was constructed as an initiative of the university’s student body, has garnered such a significant amount of award,” said Rick Dempsey, associate vice president for facilities management.

The $27.5 million project was completed in just over a year and opened for students in 2011. The three-story building received its latest green building award Dec. 13.

The student services building is a place for students to participate in general enrollment activities, health services, counseling and career center, financial aid and links to other student groups, along with other amenities.

The building’s design was recognized and awarded because of its commitment to sustainability and energy saving design implementation.

The student center has a custom exterior terra cotta louver system that provides an energy efficient shading strategy, set in place to protect those inside the building from the harsh Texas heat, while reducing radiant heat gain and maximizing daylighting and views to the outdoor landscaping. The daylight harvesting efforts helped the building use 76 percent of all occupied spaces with natural lighting and 93 percent of all occupied spaces to have views to the outside.

The building utilized water conservation by installing dual flush and low flow toilets. They also used rainwater harvesting as a way to utilize non-potable water, resulting in 86 percent reduction in potable water.

Those working on the site kept the project area green as well by recycling construction debris. A total of 88 percent of construction debris was recycled — total debris of 1,170 tons and the team was able to divert 1,034 tons from landfills.

The building also features low-emitting paint, carpet and adhesives. The United States Green Building Council granted the project 52 out of 69 possible LEED points.

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