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.

The post Green Summit Honors California’s Sustainability Leaders 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.

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.