USGBC Central Florida LEEDership Awards 2017Project Nomination: LEED NC Project

a. Description

The project is the anchor of the International Studies and continuing education program whose mission is to increase diversity through the recruitment of international students.

The state-of-the-art building is designed to provide a comfortable, learning-focused and sustainable environment to help international students gain academic, language and cultural skills to maximize their experience.

The 54,000 gsf, three-story building includes seventeen 30-seat and four 40-seat classrooms. A 45-seat cluster classroom with a single tier accommodates both instructional and teamwork learning. To promote teamwork, plenty of study and relaxation spaces are located throughout the building. For added convenience, there is a lactation room for mothers who are participating in the program and a yoga/meditation room to support student activities.

The design of the building fosters cultural diversity, creates access for international students, and promotes the programs internationalization strategy by recruiting talented students from around the world and providing them with a gathering space for comprehensive English language studies, academic exchange and acculturation programs that lead to student success.

“As the new international hub of our campus, this building anchors our extensive efforts to incorporate

internationalization.” - The Owner

The design team developed an energy model at the project’s onset to evaluate impacts of various design methods and guide the decision-making process. With the inclusion of energy-efficient design features, the building is projected to operate 30% better than the baseline building, based on ASHRAE 90.1-2007, and exceeded its LEED® Silver certification goal with Gold certification.

Building energy efficiency and sustainability are achieved by the following elements:

• An active chilled beam system as the primary means for cooling, which is generally four times more efficient than traditional air distribution systems, allows for individual temperature control of spaces. It is also much quieter than the majority of other systems due to less moving parts.

• Variable air terminal units provide primary air distribution to the chilled beams and are capable of additional power savings in extreme low-load conditions.

• Primary air temperature resetting provides an energy-efficient approach to part-load operation while maintaining individual temperature control of each zone.

• A desiccant wheel using solar heat from hot water panels provides moisture removal within the building.

• Low-flow water closets and urinals, along with low-flow, automatic lavatories, result in water conservation and cost savings.

• Energy-efficient LED fixtures.

• Daylighting controls on all floors.

• Premium-efficiency fan motors.

• 26% window-to-wall ratio to limit solar heat gain through the building envelope.

• High-efficiency glazing.

• Overhangs on south glazing.

"The design of the building incorporated energy efficient technology, including a chilled beam cooling and air

distribution system. This system has resulted in substantial energy savings to us.” – The Owner

b. Process / Design Strategies

Process / Design Strategies: Sustainable SiteExisting Campus Plan Campus Master Plan

site

site

Iconic design that reacts to a prominent and central location of greenspace. The key focus was on the masterplan and how the client thinks greater than just one building within the campus footprint.

Sustainable Site + Connectivity

Optimum Window-to-Wall Ratio = 26%

c. Products and SystemsSustainable Site + Connectivity

1. Convenient Access to Mass Transit2. Central Parking Garages: Several conveniently located

garages surrounding the project offer plenty of parking spaces, all within a 5-10 minute walk.

3. Bicycle Storage: Over 50 bikes can be accommodated through racks in and around the area.

4. Roof and Hardscapes: A light colored roof and predominately light colored hardscape materials will help to minimize unnecessarily elevated summer temperatures.

5. Open Space: The inviting green lawn, Florida-friendly trees and plants, and pedestrian-friendly walkways make this a great gathering space for both organized events and passive recreation in a centrally located green space.

6. Low-Flow Plumbing: All fixtures are “low-flow” and, overall, use 40% less water than conventional plumbing.

7. Chilled Water System: The building’s cooling needs are met through the chilled water district cooling program. All of the equipment used to cool the water is housed in the centrally-located plant.

8. High Efficiency Lighting Technologies: The interior lighting design is approximately 30% more efficient than a conventional, non-LEED design.

9. Construction Waste Recycling: During construction over 89% of the waste was repurposed and effectively diverted from the landfill.

10. Recycled and Regionally-Based Materials: Over 20% of the purchased construction materials were derived from recycled raw materials such as structural steel framing.

11. Indoor Air Quality: The paints, adhesives, and other installed coatings used in and on the project release fewer chemicals in to the air, thus reducing potential indoor air irritants and odors.

12. Operational Initiatives: The project continues efforts in the day-to-day use of the facility. For example, a robust recycling program, more eco-friendly cleaning products, and janitorial best practices have been adopted as standard operating procedures.

13. Sustainability Education & Outreach: The project team continues to share their knowledge with LEED oriented tours.

The project included many stewardship and health-oriented initiatives including:

Diverted Material Statistics

Sustainable Site + ConnectivityThe building was a balance of innovative planning, design and sustainability. At the start of design, the goal was to achieve LEED Silver certification for the project. In the end, the project achieved LEED Gold certification surpassing the expectation and original project goal.

The master planning phase of the project allowed for the exploration of various options that would situate the building in a way that maximized the site. One of the initiatives for site planning was to create a more pervious site by relocating on-site parking to an expanded neighboring parking garage. This initiative eliminated a large asphalt area and provided a building site and more sustainable green space which is pedestrian friendly.

The energy saving design solutions for the building included a cost-efficient and effective chilled beam system, optimized glazing and LED lighting. Additionally, the window-to-wall ratio design criteria was met.

Through collaboration with the Owner, the Architect and MEP Engineer opted to use a chilled beam system as the primary means of cooling for the building, which is four-times more efficient than traditional air distribution. By utilizing this system, the design team was able to lower the floor height which was a significant overall cost saving to the design. In addition to the lower floor-to-floor height, the mechanical space square-footage was reduced allowing for more useable program space. Inside the academic and office spaces, the chilled beam system is quieter and reduces the sound that a typical forced air system would generate. Lastly the spaces inside the building have improved, individual temperature control by utilizing the chilled beam system.

During the design, the team analyzed and researched the benefits and cost-savings associated with a chilled beam system. Through life cycle analysis, evaluating and re-evaluating the energy loads, it was determined and measured that the benefits provided by the chilled beam system would meet the goals established by the Owner.

The building combines a desiccant unit, air handling units and chilled beams to provide cooling to the building. Latent energy (moisture within the space) is reduced by a dedicated outside air unit (DOAS) that delivers 49 degree dewpoint air to the distribution air handling units. The regenerative path utilizes solar hot water to activate the desiccant wheel. The renewable approach to activation of the desiccant wheel provides an approach that maximizes the reduction of humidity without increasing energy costs.

The system controls space temperatures through an active chilled beam design. Through induction provided by nozzles within the chilled beams and primary air delivered by the distribution air handling units, air movement is provided. Warmer air passes through a coil within the chilled beam with an incoming water temperature of 58 deg. F to maintain space temperature at 74 deg. F. By offsetting air distribution with water distribution motor sizing (fan versus water) is significantly reduced, thus saving more energy.

By matching up a system that controls latent energy with a system that controls sensible energy, a control system that can increase and decrease primary air temperatures virtually eliminates the simultaneous heating and cooling condition that is typical in a VAV system. The control design continually monitors the system temperatures and humidity and ensures that the building is comfortable and energy efficient.

d. Project Results / Lessons Learned

Sustainable Site + Connectivity

The architectural team completed an exterior building skin exploration in order to meet the goals of the design parameters which included: skin to opening ratio, brick / metal panel / glass percentage, campus aesthetic and maximizing the budget. By analyzing glass types and shading, the result was the use of a high performing insulated Low E glass system with sun shades to reduce solar heat gain and the optimum skin-to-opening ratio of 26%. This was measured by a final design that blends seamlessly with the campus aesthetic of a brick palette of red and tan masonry combined with high efficient performance glazing.

By employing these sustainable strategies throughout the design, the result is a pedestrian friendly site with bike racks and is close in proximity to the building and local city-wide transportation. The quieter chilled beam system enhances the classroom experience by making it easier for student and faculty interaction.

To achieve its goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050, the owner has made unprecedented steps to deploy the latest energy efficiency technologies and implement energy conservation strategies. Designed with this goal in mind, the building uses 37% less energy than a comparable building, while meeting the Owners design standards.