Page 38 - College Planning & Management, September 2017
P. 38
Facilities CAMPUS SPACES
A Green Place to Stay
The Hotel at Oberlin stands to deliver support
to Oberlin College’s role as an epicenter of
Commitment and set a target climate- neutrality date of 2025.
David Orr, an Oberlin faculty member and nationally recognized thought leader in environmental studies, conceived of the Gateway Center as an opportunity for campus and community to come together and contribute to this larger conversation on climate change and responsible design practice.
Designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) in collaboration with Transsolar Climate Engineers, the Gateway Center is a model for high-performance building design and whole systems thinking.
Radiant heating and cooling: Rather than use a traditional air conditioning system that circulates hot or cold air to change the ambient air temperature, the hotel utilizes a radiant heating and cooling system. It is the first hotel in the country to utilize this passive system, which relies on surface temperatures within the building to heat and cool interior spaces. Each guest room contains a radiant ceiling panel and a ceiling fan, which helps increase the cool- ing performance of the system by moving air across the panel.
Geothermal: The radiant heating and cooling system is supported by a geother- mal field composed of 48 405-foot-deep wells. Loop water is circulated through
the ground, carrying heat away from the building during warm periods and sup- pyling heat to the building during cool periods, and into the building to water-to- water heat pumps. The water-to-water heat pumps have the ability to simultaneously provide heating and cooling water without using any extra energy by capturing heat from areas that need cooling and circulat- ing it to spaces needing heat.
Natural ventilation: The public areas of the building, including the lobby, restaurant and event spaces, are naturally ventilated through a large, two-story atrium. An auto- mated system opens windows on the ground
environmental awareness.
BY JIM CURTIN, AIA
THE PETER B. LEWIS Gateway Center is a highly sustainable, mixed-use building that is the cornerstone of the Green Arts District,
a 13-acre block that brings the arts and sciences together to create a thriving and environmentally sustainable center at the crossroads of Oberlin College and the City of Oberlin, OH.
The Hotel at Oberlin (http://thehotelat- oberlin.com) is the major program element of the 104,000-square-foot Gateway Center. The $35 million, 70-room hotel includes a 6,500-square-foot conference center and a row of street-level retail spaces. Through
a groundbreaking mix of sustainable strategies and technologies, it is on track to become LEED Platinum certified — only the fifth new hospitality project in
the country to reach this achievement. As measured by Energy Use Intensity, the
building will be within the top ranking of commercial structures in North America using 55 percent less energy than compa- rable buildings.
A History — and a Future — of Sustainability
Both Oberlin College and the City of Oberlin have demonstrated a strong com- mitment to sustainable design. The city and college joined together to become one of 18 Clinton Foundation Climate Positive Development Program cities (one of only three in the U.S.), committing to reducing Oberlin’s greenhouse gas emissions below zero. The campus’ Adam Joseph Lewis Center has been proclaimed as one of the most important green buildings of the 20th century by the U.S. Department of Energy. In 2006, the school signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate
38 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / SEPTEMBER 2017
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