Building Innovatively in a Historic Campus
This small, historic, liberal-arts College is undergoing a transformation of its eastern side of the campus, entitled the Greenway, of which the Greenway Residences are the initial step in this plan. The design focuses on creating a diverse community that connects the historic past and future of the College. The 295-bed residence hall is broken down into four interconnected buildings that surround a central outdoor community space. The buildings are laid out on two axes. The two northern buildings align with the historic grid of the main campus to the north, while the two southern buildings shift to align with the grid of the southern topography and future expansion of the campus. The porous arrangement of the buildings allow for fluid movement and views through to various areas of the campus.
Integrated Sustainability Approach that Maximizes Solar Exposure and Views
All of the buildings are oriented to the south and staggered, with dorm rooms singled-loaded on the south side, to maximize solar exposure and views to the mountains beyond, while circulation and service cores line the north side of each building. Exterior stainless steel solar shades allow dorm rooms to take full advantage of passive solar energy, while providing the exterior with a unique architectural expression of the project’s emphasis on environmental sustainability. Straight-flight egress stairs are enhanced with enlarged landings and views in order to encourage walk-up circulation. Other sustainability features include radiant heating and cooling embedded in exposed structural concrete ceilings, natural cross ventilation, LED lighting w/ bi-level switching, hot water and return air energy recovery, roof shaped for rainwater collection and reuse, and storm water gardens. Over the first year in operation the buildings operated at 36 kBtu/gsf; achieving approximately 40% energy use savings over base model.
Foster a Diverse & Inclusive Student Community with a Variety of Social Spaces
As an undergraduate residence the design focuses on creating a multi-layered student community that enriches learning by providing a diversity of environments for positive social interactions. This happens at the scale of the building floor, building, housing neighborhood and campus. A variety of unit types are provided on each floor to encourage different class years to live together, as well as numerous types of social common areas distributed throughout. These include a 2,500 sf multipurpose event space with retractable seating, lounges with full kitchens, seminar rooms, a commercial style demonstration kitchen, and a yoga studio. Outside, the terraced landscape is home to a series of intramural sports courts, a large wood stepped amphitheater, barbeque patio, and basking rocks made from locally sourced schist boulders.
Material Used :
1. Solera + Aerogel R18 – Translucent insulated glazing
2. POHL Europlate – Brushed stainless steel perforated rainscreen cassettes
3. Endicott Clay Brick – “Gray Blend”; Velour finish; Roman module
4. Kawneer 7500 Curtainwall; Kawneer 4325 Windows
5. Carl Stahl X-Tend – Stainless Steel Cable Mesh
