“In addition to its original intention of being a state-of-the-art facility in which to study and perform music, the Natalie L. Haslam Music Center was also designed with this LEED Silver designation in mind,” said Jeff Pappas, director of the UT School of Music, in a statement. “Many hours of careful planning went into seeking this designation, and we are thrilled that this wonderful building has reached this important designation.”

The highly efficient, 123,000-square-foot Haslam Center debuted in 2013 and includes a number of green features and systems, such as underground rainwater collection cisterns used to irrigate the surrounding landscape and ceramic glazing on portions of the glass exterior to reduce solar heat gain. Along with green building materials, its modern, stylistic interiors include crisp, white walls, large windows to allow plenty of natural light, sleek seating options, green accents throughout and a variety of natural textures.

Upon the building’s completion, all School of Music programs were — for the first time — able to be located under the same roof. Music students now enjoy eight technology-enhanced classrooms, 56 practice rooms, 57 performance studios/academic offices, an organ studio, a 412-seat recital hall, the George F. DeVine Music Library, a recording/mixing lab and an academic tutoring center, as well as a number of computer, electronic music and piano labs. The building serves 350 students and replaces a 1960s-era facility that was constructed when the university’s music program was less than half its current size.

“We are obligated to provide our students with the best faculty, staff, research opportunities and resources,” said UT Chancellor Jimmy Cheek in a statement following the facility’s September 2013 dedication. “This building will provide learning opportunities. It is the best building in the country.”

UT adopted a sustainable building policy in 2007 to make green building the standard for all new construction and renovation projects exceeding $5 million. The university’s master plan requires sustainable design and construction be incorporated into both new and renovated buildings, and focuses on increasing open green space and walkways to make the campus more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly.

Associated Music Center Architects, a joint venture of BarberMcMurry Architects and Blankenship and Partners, both of Knoxville, designed the building and was also responsible for the construction. Johnson & Galyon, also of Knoxville, served as the project contractor. Knoxville’s Lauderdale Design Group, an interior design consulting firm, completed the building’s interiors, and a variety of Knoll furnishings were used throughout.

Named for UT supporter and philanthropist Natalie L. Haslam, a graduate of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences, the building was funded in part by a portion of Haslam’s $32.5 million gift to the school in 2006.

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The 26,000-square-foot, non-profit Rise School, which provides early childhood education services to students experiencing Downs Syndrome and other conditions, features classrooms and learning spaces specifically designed to meet more specialized learning needs. The school includes eight classrooms, flexible common areas and multi-use indoor/outdoor spaces, as well as a music room, library and physical therapy gym.

The $5.6 million Rise School earned commendations for saving 38 percent more energy than the previous facility, representing an estimated 103,785-killowatt hour reduction over previous levels. The school’s irrigation system also uses reclaimed water outside, while water-efficient plumbing fixtures further contribute to water savings inside. More than 33 percent of the building materials used in the school’s construction contained recycled content, and more than half were locally sourced. Low-emitting paints, coatings, sealants and other environmentally conscious materials further contributed to creating a healthy learning space for students.

Founded in 1990, the AEGB was the nation’s first green building program. It encourages the design and construction of more sustainable homes and buildings throughout central Texas with a mission of transforming the overall building industry to embrace a more sustainable future. Developing and maintaining its own Austin-specific sustainability rating system has also given the AEGB the flexibility to carry out aggressive climate protection goals that have paved the way for both energy and building code changes that will reduce energy use, according to the organization.

O’Connell Robertson of Austin provided architecture, MEP engineering, and interior design services for the high-performance building; Burt Watts was the construction manager.

“O’Connell Robertson is committed to sustainable design practices and meeting the goals of our clients in this area,” said Amy Jones, a principal with O’Connell Robertson. “We are proud of our team, including Burt Watts, our design consultants and the Rise School leadership for the collaboration and commitment to more efficient and healthier buildings that resulted in this award.”

School officials, donors, students and community members participated in a groundbreaking ceremony in January 2014. The school was completed in August of that year.

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The university is designating this series as a Green Bond, as it meets the voluntary, best practices Green Bond Principles established in January 2014 by environmental finance experts and banks, according to Robert Ambach, the university’s senior vice president for administration and finance.

“Since sustainability is woven into all aspects of the university in terms of academics, research and extracurricular activities, it only made sense to further extend that to our financing,” Ambach said. “UC is already nationally recognized for our sustainable energy efficiencies and savings and our high-performance green buildings. That momentum will only continue at UC, and this step is an important milestone in our focus on sustainability.”

Scioto Hall, a 16-story, 142,000-square-foot building, has remained largely vacant since 2008. The building is one of the university’s iconic, 1960s-era Three Sisters residence halls, along with Morgens Hall, which was recently renovated by Richard Fleischman + Partners Architects Inc. of Cincinnati, and the now razed Sawyer Hall.

Similar to the work completed on Morgens Hall, the renovation will transform the underutilized Scioto Hall into a modern, energy-efficient, on-campus residence for approximately 450 University of Cincinnati upperclassmen. Beds will be spread across 140 apartment-style suites with a specific focus on energy efficiency and responsible material use, and construction is scheduled for completion in August 2016.

The renovation will replace the hall’s existing concrete and brick exterior with 2,000 high-tech glass panels, creating an attractive and energy-efficient facade. Each panel will include a half-inch of air space and have low-emissive properties, preventing heat loss or gain. These partially fritted panels will also feature a reflective pattern, decreasing solar heat gain by 20 percent. The panels will work together with interior, custom-fit roller shades that will increase energy efficiency and user comfort while decreasing heating and cooling costs.

Additionally, the new Scioto Hall will include modern mechanical systems geared toward energy efficiency. After renovation, the university expects to see energy savings similar to those documented in Morgens Hall. Following energy-efficiency upgrades, Morgens Hall saw a 46 percent decrease in overall energy consumption when compared to pre-renovation figures.

LED lighting will also be used exclusively throughout the renovated Scioto Hall. An energy recovery system will further support sustainability efforts and increase air quality, capturing exhaust heat and using it to warm fresh air being pumped into the building.

A majority of the facility’s interior doors will be built using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)–certified wood. Many other building materials will be sourced locally or regionally, reducing transportation-related energy use and expenses. Considering all of these sustainability efforts, the project is anticipated to earn LEED Silver certification or greater.

“It’s important to note that this project got off to a sustainability-conscious start before the first hammer was swung as part of the ongoing renovation,” said Mary Beth McGrew, university architect and associate vice president of planning, design and construction. “Reusing the existing building eliminated the need to send truckloads of debris to a landfill. Not to mention that on-campus living for students reduces the use of personal transportation to get around campus and beyond.”

The move to increase environmental sustainability bolsters the University of Cincinnati’s reputation as a green leader. The campus is currently home to seven LEED-recognized facilities and, in April 2014, was named one of the country’s top green schools by The Princeton Review, its fifth honor. Its efforts have also been recognized by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, earning the organization’s silver award, and by both Duke Energy and the EPA.

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Community Colleges
Resource Management
Cerritos College in Norwalk, Calif., was honored in the Resource Management category. The community college uses reclaimed water for irrigation on 95 percent of its campus, saving more than 30 million gallons of domestic water annually. Facility staff has also integrated a number of drought-resistant plants and native vegetation into the school’s landscaping.

Energy
The event’s Energy award was given to San Bernardino Community College District, which worked with an energy conservation management firm to reduce its electric consumption by almost 24 million BTUs. The Energy Star partner school also established several LEED-certified buildings and contains one of the state’s largest solar farms.

Curriculum
Established as an institute for workforce development in renewable energy and sustainability, College of the Desert’s Energy Enterprise Center in Palm Springs, Calif. received the event’s Curriculum award for its training in both utility-scale and residential/commercial-scale solar arrays, as well as wind turbine maintenance, advanced lighting controls and other programs. These programs have resulted in many employment and new career opportunities for the region’s unemployed workers.

Green Building
Coastline Community College’s Newport Beach Learning Center offers a variety of courses in a facility that uses the site’s mild climate and balances nature and technology. The building features a rooftop garden, natural ventilation, stormwater management, living walls and optimized daylighting, earning it LEED Gold certification.

Schools
Waste Management
The Oceanside Unified School District was the first in the nation to formally adopt a Zero Waste Schools Resolution, demonstrating both the district and students’ commitment to effective resource management and environmental stewardship. These efforts include sustainable and organic gardening, water and energy conservation, alternative energy projects and environmentally preferable purchasing, impacting approximately 20,000 students.

Water Management
Removing traditionally irrigated lawns and converting them into edible and learning gardens earned the Pasadena Unified School District the Water Management award. The district used the local water utility’s turf removal rebate to install low volume, point source drip irrigation systems throughout the district, with a commitment to making the effort district-wide, reducing both water dependence and the labor and gas needed to maintain turf.

Energy
The Campbell Union School District’s plan to reduce natural resource dependence by 80 to 100 percent earned it the Energy award. Presently, the district has established net zero energy facilities on eight campuses — the first being Blackford School in San Jose. That facility in particular requires no artificial lighting during school hours, and features automated windows and louvers to heat and cool the building. A solar “cool roof” and energy management system lower energy consumption while passive ventilation keeps the building comfortable.

Green Building
La Escuelita Education Center in the Oakland Unified School District is located on the district’s first grid-neutral campus and is a Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) certified facility. The inner city, mixed use K-5 school received one of the state’s highest CHPS ratings thanks to its solar photovoltaic arrays, maximized daylighting and ventilation, and rainwater collection system.

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Designed by the Chicago and Atlanta offices of global architecture and design firm Perkins+Will, the two-story, $50 million facility is a haven for Case Western students. Combining public spaces, quiet study areas, 160 student organization offices and a variety of other dynamic spaces, the modern facility hopes to foster greater interaction and collaboration between all users.

The building was constructed at the apex of the original Western Reserve University and Case Institute of Technology campuses. A pass-through walkway extends throughout the building, connecting the two sites and exuding openness, transparency and interactivity.

“We were able to create a highly transparent building with public and private spaces that promote interaction among students, faculty and staff throughout their daily campus experience,” said Mark Jolicoeur, Perkins+Will managing principal on the project, in a statement.

The building, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, was intended to serve as a base for both informal and formal gatherings for undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff and community members. As such, the Perkins+Will project team divided the space between social and cultural areas, meeting and event spaces, and food and beverage areas with intersecting, public spaces to encourage socializing, collaborating, studying and relaxing, according to a release issued by the firm.

“In fact,” said Stephen Campbell, Case Western Reserve’s vice president for campus planning and facilities management, in a release, “we sought input from students in the planning and design. We expect them to make the center their own.”

As the facility was built in a spatially confined area, surrounded by a number of other campus buildings, Perkins+Will accommodated this potentially difficult site by stretching horizontally in three directions.

“We turned a challenging space into an asset,” said Ralph Johnson, global design direction and design principal for Perkins+Will. “The design respects the context and the constraints of the site it is on and, with the pass-through walkway, provides a major circulation path that energizes the interior of the building. We celebrated and defined these open spaces.”

Meanwhile, the new green-roofed center, which is designed to meet or exceed LEED silver standards, is also a model of environmental stewardship through its design, construction, and operation. The two-story, west-facing double-glass wall required an innovative engineering system to address solar heat-gain generated by late afternoon sunlight.

To reduce energy use and better control the interior environment, the team integrated fans that pull air to cool the space between the glass walls at high temperatures, while rooftop sensors trigger roller shades to be lowered when the sun is creating glare in the commons. During cold winter months, the glass walls allow warmer air to build up.

With the glass wall situated above a section of the parking garage containing an air shaft, the design team also had to calculate how to maintain proper air circulation into, and out of, the garage.

Donley’s of Cleveland served as the project’s construction manager, and local architecture CBLH Design provided support throughout the project.

The post New Case Western Facility Connects Campuses, Students appeared first on School Construction News.

Designed by the Chicago and Atlanta offices of global architecture and design firm Perkins+Will, the two-story, $50 million facility is a haven for Case Western students. Combining public spaces, quiet study areas, 160 student organization offices and a variety of other dynamic spaces, the modern facility hopes to foster greater interaction and collaboration between all users.

The building was constructed at the apex of the original Western Reserve University and Case Institute of Technology campuses. A pass-through walkway extends throughout the building, connecting the two sites and exuding openness, transparency and interactivity.

“We were able to create a highly transparent building with public and private spaces that promote interaction among students, faculty and staff throughout their daily campus experience,” said Mark Jolicoeur, Perkins+Will managing principal on the project, in a statement.

The building, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, was intended to serve as a base for both informal and formal gatherings for undergraduates, graduates, faculty, staff and community members. As such, the Perkins+Will project team divided the space between social and cultural areas, meeting and event spaces, and food and beverage areas with intersecting, public spaces to encourage socializing, collaborating, studying and relaxing, according to a release issued by the firm.

“In fact,” said Stephen Campbell, Case Western Reserve’s vice president for campus planning and facilities management, in a release, “we sought input from students in the planning and design. We expect them to make the center their own.”

As the facility was built in a spatially confined area, surrounded by a number of other campus buildings, Perkins+Will accommodated this potentially difficult site by stretching horizontally in three directions.

“We turned a challenging space into an asset,” said Ralph Johnson, global design direction and design principal for Perkins+Will. “The design respects the context and the constraints of the site it is on and, with the pass-through walkway, provides a major circulation path that energizes the interior of the building. We celebrated and defined these open spaces.”

Meanwhile, the new green-roofed center, which is designed to meet or exceed LEED silver standards, is also a model of environmental stewardship through its design, construction, and operation. The two-story, west-facing double-glass wall required an innovative engineering system to address solar heat-gain generated by late afternoon sunlight.

To reduce energy use and better control the interior environment, the team integrated fans that pull air to cool the space between the glass walls at high temperatures, while rooftop sensors trigger roller shades to be lowered when the sun is creating glare in the commons. During cold winter months, the glass walls allow warmer air to build up.

With the glass wall situated above a section of the parking garage containing an air shaft, the design team also had to calculate how to maintain proper air circulation into, and out of, the garage.

Donley’s of Cleveland served as the project’s construction manager, and local architecture CBLH Design provided support throughout the project.

The post New Case Western Facility Connects Campuses, Students appeared first on School Construction News.

At 230,000 square feet, the ECE Building will nearly double its original home and greatly expand the department’s physical capabilities. The terra cotta structure will provide office space for an estimated 120 faculty members, and comprise state of the art laboratories, classrooms and project spaces. Here, students will explore fields including optical physics, electromagnetism and thin film and charged particles, among others.

Designed to reduce the department’s environmental impact and reach its net-zero goal, the building will also utilize a variety of energy efficient systems and sustainable materials. The roof will eventually hold 1,200 solar panels estimated to provide roughly 300 kilowatts of energy. Meanwhile LED lights will be used across 70 percent of the building, reducing its energy consumption. An innovative chilled beam cooling system will also be used to throughout, while careful orientation, window shading, heat recovery systems and a high R-value envelope will ensure a comfortable and efficient interior year-round.

According to a statement by architects SmithGroup JJR, the building will also help streamline the department, consolidating it into one two-wing, multi-story building, and “creating a flexible environment to inspire and support interdisciplinary learning and collaboration.” According to Andy Vazzano, FAIA, LEED AP, leader of SmithGroup’s Corporate Science & Technology Practice, "This new building is where future innovations and sustainable research practices are imagined and refined."

Designers from SmithGroup JJR Chicago and consultants from KJWW Engineering Consultants of Rock Island are confident the ECE building will earn LEED Platinum certification, joining the school’s Business Instructional Facility. They also expect an EPA Energy Star rating of 99 on a 100-point scale, and that the building will serve as a prototype for future sustainably built additions to the university’s network of campuses, and help it work toward a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

ECE Department Head Andreas C. Cangellaris also spoke highly of the new facility in a statement. "This building will be a great benefit to our students,” said Cangellaris, “not only in the ECE Department, but in our college and beyond. This new building is designed to inspire engineering education driven by societal needs and opportunities. With these new facilities and labs, we will continue to educate the leaders in our profession for generations to come."


Construction of the ECE building is projected to cost the school roughly $71 million, while the entire cost is estimated at $95 million. The school will provide half of the total cost, while private donations and state funds will cover the remainder.

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This 103,580-square-foot facility is now the largest educational facility on the school’s campus, and is home to the biology, chemistry, computer science, marine biology, mathematics, physics and psychology programs. Complete with multiple faculty offices and student lounges, the center also allows for more effective and collaborative research, supporting connectivity and accessibility across disciplines.

“In the new building, we no longer have departmental areas for each of the sciences,” said Archibald Granville Bush Professor of Science Thomas Moore. “Each collection of faculty offices includes people from different departments, so biologists, physicists, chemists and mathematicians will interact on a daily basis. More importantly, so will the students studying these different fields. The divisions between the scientific disciplines were constructed by people. Therefore, people can eliminate them. Our students will be at the forefront of that effort.”

Rollins College President Lewis Duncan added, “The science center’s dynamic, interdisciplinary spaces create an atmosphere of scientific discovery and will allow us to keep pace with the emerging technology of the 21st century. With a national focus on STEM education, Rollins is better equipped to encourage and support current and future students to pursue scientific fields.”

Though defined by its modern and innovative approach to science, the center’s exterior blends seamlessly into the campus’ distinctive Spanish-Mediterranean architecture. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering, a prominent feature of this new facility is the three-story Rice Family Atrium. With promenade-facing floor-to-ceiling windows, the atrium provides lovely views of the outside green space and welcomes pedestrian traffic. Once inside, visitors experience a contemporary and cutting-edge environment with ample space for study, collaboration and research. It also provides a communal space from which to view cutting edge research in the moment.

“Transparency was a primary objective in the design of the building,” said Rollins College Director of Facilities Management, Scott Bitikofer. “You are able to see into the laboratories and classrooms and actually watch science happening.”

In keeping with its scientific goals and purpose, the new facility is also a model of green construction and sustainability. The building boasts many eco-conscious features such as an energy recovery wheel for retrieving energy lost during cooling and dehumidification, direct digital control, LED lights and chilled-water powered air conditioning. The site will also utilize a rainwater harvesting system for non-potable usage. Outside, Florida-native cypress trees aid in the natural treatment of storm water. Rollins anticipates that the building will receive LEED Gold certification.

The project was made possible with the support of the Charles E. and Dianne T. Rice Family, F. Duane Ackerman, the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation and the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation. Edyth Bush, the late founder of the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation, was the wife of the building’s namesake, the late Mr. Archibald Granville Bush. Gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Bush and from Mr. Bush’s foundation, the Minnesota-based Bush Foundation, supported the original construction of the building in the 1960s.

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