Add as a preferred source on Google

UMass Reduces Heat Loss, Earns LEED Gold

  • 04/01/19
schock

UMass Amherst reduced heat loss through steel canopy beams by half at its LEED Gold-certified Life Science L

The five-story 310,000-square-foot Life Science Laboratories building at UMass Amherst is designed to foster collaboration among faculty and student researchers. Also designed to qualify for LEED Gold certification, it employs a range of advanced measures to slash energy usage, carbon emissions, and related costs.

Sustainability is especially challenging for a research facility, which typically consumes more energy than comparable buildings.

To meet safety and functional requirements of the building while minimizing energy use, Wilson Architects and Lim Consultants specified low-flow fume hoods and plumbing fixtures, energy-recovering air handling units and heat recovery chillers, water reclamation and recycling systems, sensor-controlled lighting and water-cooled systems, while maximizing the effect of sunlight.

An additional energy-saving strategy was required to mitigate the potential of thermal bridging through steel beams that penetrated the insulated building envelope to support a 300-foot glass canopy spanning the length of the building’s façade.

However, exterior steel cantilevers supported by interior structural steel would cause interior heat to be conducted through the cantilevers and dissipated into the environment, requiring steel-to-steel insulation in the form of structural thermal breaks, or “STBs.”

The canopy support structure consists of 40 steel beams spaced approximately 10 feet apart. Wilson Architects specified an Isokorb® Type S22 STB supplied by Schöck North America to be positioned where the cantilevers penetrate the insulated building envelope, reducing heat loss by approximately 50 percent at each penetration.

With the energy-saving technologies in place, including structural thermal breaks for the canopy support structure, the lab saves approximately $300,000 in energy costs per year.

www.schock-na.com

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management April/May 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • UT System Board of Regents Approves $108M Housing Complex

    The University of Texas System Board of Regents recently announced the approval of a new, $108-million housing complex at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), according to a news release. The facility will stand four stories and have a total of 456 new beds for freshmen students.

  • A university

    Breaking Higher Education's Billion-Dollar Backlog Problem

    Strategic mechanical system design can transform campus maintenance backlogs. Here's how.

  • University of Kentucky Receives $150M Gift Toward New Arts District

    The University of Kentucky’s Board of Trustees recently received a $150-million gift from The Bill Gatton Foundation, according to a university news release, to build a new arts district on the campus in Lexington, Ky. The new district will feature a new College of Fine Arts building and a multi-hundred-seat theater, among other amenities.

  • Beyond Four Walls

    Operable glass walls provide a dynamic solution for educational spaces. They align with today’s evolving teaching methods and adapt to the needs of modern learners. Beyond the functional versatility, movable glass walls offer clean, contemporary aesthetics, slim and unobtrusive profiles, and versatile configurations that cater to the evolving needs of students and educators alike.

Digital Edition