The Center for Sustainability at Johnson County Community College (JCCC), Overland Park, Kansas, set aggressive goals for the College, including becoming a 100% renewable energy campus by 2050. This commitment affected every building project on campus, including Galileo’s Pavilion, a 3,000-square-foot academic building. Super-efficient practices and products, including Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) technology, have made Galileo’s Pavilion a true showcase of sustainability and earned LEED® Platinum certification.
The JCCC contacted Studio 804, a not-for-profit in Lawrence, Kansas, comprised of KU School of Architecture, Design and Planning graduate students. These students design and construct technologically sophisticated, green buildings under the direction of Dan Rockhill, distinguished architecture professor and Studio 804 founder. Rockhill said, “We designed Galileo’s Pavilion using our current knowledge of sustainable design. We took advantage of the daily and seasonal cycles of nature to passively cool, heat and daylight the building, as well as supply electricity and utility water.”
For HVAC, Rockhill said, “We had three distinctly separate spaces. Although they’re in the same building, the loading on them is different. So that resulted in three separate air-conditioning and heating solutions” – or, zoning. “We pride ourselves on promoting sustainable everything, so HVAC is no exception.” VRF was the clear choice.
Rockhill had been impressed with Mitsubishi Electric VRF on a recent project. “Mitsubishi [Electric] is a leader in its field. Many of the others follow, but Mitsubishi [Electric] developed the variable refrigerant concept. For Galileo’s Pavilion, we wanted the most technologically advanced equipment in the industry. So VRF and its capacity to simultaneously cool and heat all of the spaces within the building was a fit.”
He continued, “Mitsubishi [Electric] was also very generous in working on the engineering aspect of the Center for Design Research. Mitsubishi [Electric] gets passive solar, and gets that it’s the sum of the total of all the parts that makes the systems positive. And there was never any pushback from them. It was always, “Yeah, that’s great.”
“Installation went quite well. The Mitsubishi [Electric] units are compact and easy enough to install that the whole thing really was pretty simple,” said Rockhill.
“The school monitors the whole thing,” explained Michael Rea, JCCC’s sustainability project manager, “through our building automation system. The Mitsubishi [Electric] system is integrated so we can see humidity or change set points, for example.”
He continued, “Everything with the Mitsubishi [Electric] system has been going well. No compressor failures, no leaks, no fan problems, nothing. Our maintenance is easy, too – just changing the filters and making sure the condensers are clean.”
Another sign of success: LEED Platinum certification. Rea said, “For us in the Center, we were excited to get above Silver, our current standard. Galileo’s Pavilion is a showcase about what a sustainable building can be on a campus. We were also honored to receive the 2013 CSI Kansas City Chapter Innovation in Sustainability Award for the building.”
Related Stories
| Jun 8, 2012
Nauset Construction completing sustainable dorm for Brooks School
Student input on green elements provides learning experience.
| Jun 1, 2012
New BD+C University Course on Insulated Metal Panels available
By completing this course, you earn 1.0 HSW/SD AIA Learning Units.
| Jun 1, 2012
K-State Olathe Innovation Campus receives LEED Silver
Aspects of the design included a curtain wall and punched openings allowing natural light deep into the building, regional materials were used, which minimized the need for heavy hauling, and much of the final material included pre and post-consumer recycled content.
| May 29, 2012
Reconstruction Awards Entry Information
Download a PDF of the Entry Information at the bottom of this page.
| May 24, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Entry Form
Download a PDF of the Entry Form at the bottom of this page.
| May 23, 2012
Arizona Army National Guard Readiness Center awarded LEED Silver
LEED certification of the AZ ARNG Readiness Center was based on a number of green design and construction features SAIC implemented that positively impacted the project and the broader community.
| May 16, 2012
AIA issues guide to IGCC
Getting the IgCC adopted in all 50 states and in jurisdictions across the country is the primary mission of the ICC, which published the code in March.
| May 9, 2012
International green building speaker to keynote Australia’s largest building systems trade show
Green building, sustainability consultant, green building book author Jerry Yudelson will be the keynote speaker at the Air-Conditioning, Refrigeration and Building Systems (ARBS) conference in Melbourne, Australia.
| May 3, 2012
NSF publishes ANSI standard evaluating the sustainability of single ply roofing membranes
New NSF Standard provides manufacturers, specifiers and building industry with verifiable, objective criteria to identify sustainable roofing products.
| Apr 27, 2012
GreenExpo365.com to offer webinars on EPA’s WaterSense Program
Architects and builders interested in developing water-efficient buildings invited to attend free sessions featuring experts discussing water-efficient building practices.