Integration and the Design Process
Delaware County Community College
Fostering Collaboration
From the human body to the earth's ecosystem, from the best laid plans to the microchip, integration is what keeps everything moving forward. Integration is how we bypass chaos. And it is how we make architecture out of disparate parts and materials.
For Burt Hill, integration evolves out of people and a collaboration of disciplines, close, intense, and from the beginning. The intent is to optimize every aspect of design with performance, while minimizing compromises. We know we have achieved the highest order of design integration when architecture and engineering are seen as one - inseparable.
JIT: Jobs in Time
"Can Community Colleges Save the U.S. Economy?" asked TIME magazine in its July 20, 2009 issue. As America struggles with unemployment and the rising costs of education, enrollment in the nation's community colleges is exploding. No longer looked upon as higher educations's stepchild, community colleges on average cost less, train people in new and emerging fields, and get their graduates into the workforce quickly.
At Delaware County Community College (DCCC) this convergence of circumstances couldn't have been timelier. Its first large-scale building project in over 30 years is well underway, with a 32,000-square-foot technology building that was completed earlier this year and a 100,000-square-foot science, engineering, and math building (the STEM complex) currently under construction. Here, DCCC plans to significantly improve the science skills and vocational training of the local community's workforce with a program and facilities designed around the latest educational trends and with LEED Silver certification in mind.
Carpe Diem: And Tomorrow
The facilities were designed to serve a curriculum ranging from science theory (astronomy and physics) to practical application (carpentry and plubming). That curriculum will be delivered in classroom, laboratory, shop, auditorium, and student life settings in a format emphasizing small-group collaboration, smaller class sizes, hands-on learning, the use of multimedia tools, and multidisciplinary approaches. And because community colleges operate in a very fluid and often underfunded world, DCCC's new facilities incorporate the flexibility to be reconfigured and adapted to pedagogical innovations and changing social conditions.
Integration: A Metric for Success
Integraton figured into the STEM complex's design on several fronts: building systems and geometry, operational costs, siting, adaptability, sustainability. It started early and was a factor throughout the design process.
The STEM complex introduces a major new presence into the heart of the campus, a central courtyard flanked by existing structures on its east and west sides. A faceted geometry integrates the complex into the topographical contours on the north side. At ground level the complex provides a throughway for the entire campus to and from a newly created campus green. A two-story glass loft on the southeast wing helps in the transition from mass to transparency to open space, while connecting students inside and out. It also acts as a kind of beacon for the newly arrived cafe, gym, and computer center within the complex. The overall effect is more energy, more intimacy.
Performance Analysis: A Sustainable Solution
Our design team used building information modeling (BIM) and conducted extensive energy analyses to drive sustainability solutions. Early and continuous analyses of structural, MEP, and window-wall systems allowed us to make refinements based on new information as we went. The impact on design was crucial. Structural design related directly to floor-to-floor heights, which held implications for the size and configuration of modular window systems, which determined not only the amount of heat gain but also how much daylight could be brought into labs and classrooms, which affected both the required amount of air volume for heating and cooling and the wattage levels of lighting systems. Input determines output.
Today's tools enable architects and engineers to be far more precise in performance analysis. In the STEM complex's case, harvesting daylight was desirable not only to cut energy costs, but to make interior spaces more inviting. So it became an integral part of the design. The glass proposed for the south-facing wall posed a problem with heat gain. Early energy modeling confirmed, with a high-degree of specificity, that fritted glass and shading devices reduced air volume requirments, which reduced electrical and mechanical requirements. It even identified the optimum glass density and shading depth that would be needed.
Fitting: To Suit
DCCC built its new facilities to attract students and teach them well. The environment for achieving this has to work for the students and the College over time. The attention to integration was the difference between a modern environment conducive to learning, adaptive to change and a container. What goes together well goes farther.
