A landmark power plant in Owatonna, Minn., damaged in a 2010 flood has new life as the headquarters of Owatonna Public Utilities following a renovation by architects Leo A Daly.
When the Straight River flooded in 2010, 12 feet of water stood in the basement of the Owatonna power plant, a brick Italianate building with a distinctive neon sign, arched windows, and three silver smoke stacks. The flood damaged its generators, but OPU sought Leo A Daly's help in re-purposing the building into its new headquarters.
The interior volume of the turbine hall — 50 vertical feet of open space that had previously accommodated the plant’s massive boilers — guided Leo A Daly’s approach to space planning for the administrative and customer service spaces that would occupy the building.
Using the interior steel structure as scaffolding, Leo A Daly laid out atrium spaces and floating offices that cantilever over the ground floor. The effect is a series of connected spaces all lit by daylight through the building's large windows.
The building integrates artifacts from its pre-flood days. Boiler doors, valve covers, and valve wheels are re-presented in a gallery space. Bar grating is reused in the new building as railings. Energy efficient windows were installed while keeping the original window framing and some of the original glass in place. Colors, textures and materials from the original floor and equipment are incorporated.
To prevent future flood damage, flood doors were installed in a conditioned space below the flood line, which will allow river water to come and go without disrupting operations above. To pull this off, the architects had to raise the first occupiable floor by one foot.
Leo A Daly sees the Owatonna renovation as part of a growing trend. More cities are interested in repurposing their heritage facilities, rather than simply razing them and building new.
Related Stories
| Nov 2, 2010
Energy Analysis No Longer a Luxury
Back in the halcyon days of 2006, energy analysis of building design and performance was a luxury. Sure, many forward-thinking AEC firms ran their designs through services such as Autodesk’s Green Building Studio and IES’s Virtual Environment, and some facility managers used Honeywell’s Energy Manager and other monitoring software. Today, however, knowing exactly how much energy your building will produce and use is survival of the fittest as energy costs and green design requirements demand precision.
| Nov 2, 2010
Yudelson: ‘If It Doesn’t Perform, It Can’t Be Green’
Jerry Yudelson, prolific author and veteran green building expert, challenges Building Teams to think big when it comes to controlling energy use and reducing carbon emissions in buildings.
| Nov 2, 2010
Historic changes to commercial building energy codes drive energy efficiency, emissions reductions
Revisions to the commercial section of the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) represent the largest single-step efficiency increase in the history of the national, model energy. The changes mean that new and renovated buildings constructed in jurisdictions that follow the 2012 IECC will use 30% less energy than those built to current standards.
| Nov 1, 2010
Sustainable, mixed-income housing to revitalize community
The $41 million Arlington Grove mixed-use development in St. Louis is viewed as a major step in revitalizing the community. Developed by McCormack Baron Salazar with KAI Design & Build (architect, MEP, GC), the project will add 112 new and renovated mixed-income rental units (market rate, low-income, and public housing) totaling 162,000 sf, plus 5,000 sf of commercial/retail space.
| Nov 1, 2010
John Pearce: First thing I tell designers: Do your homework!
John Pearce, FAIA, University Architect at Duke University, Durham, N.C., tells BD+C’s Robert Cassidy about the school’s construction plans and sustainability efforts, how to land work at Duke, and why he’s proceeding with caution when it comes to BIM.
| Nov 1, 2010
Vancouver’s former Olympic Village shoots for Gold
The first tenants of the Millennium Water development in Vancouver, B.C., were Olympic athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games. Now the former Olympic Village, located on a 17-acre brownfield site, is being transformed into a residential neighborhood targeting LEED ND Gold. The buildings are expected to consume 30-70% less energy than comparable structures.
| Oct 27, 2010
Grid-neutral education complex to serve students, community
MVE Institutional designed the Downtown Educational Complex in Oakland, Calif., to serve as an educational facility, community center, and grid-neutral green building. The 123,000-sf complex, now under construction on a 5.5-acre site in the city’s Lake Merritt neighborhood, will be built in two phases, the first expected to be completed in spring 2012 and the second in fall 2014.
| Oct 21, 2010
GSA confirms new LEED Gold requirement
The General Services Administration has increased its sustainability requirements and now mandates LEED Gold for its projects.
| Oct 18, 2010
World’s first zero-carbon city on track in Abu Dhabi
Masdar City, the world’s only zero-carbon city, is on track to be built in Abu Dhabi, with completion expected as early as 2020. Foster + Partners developed the $22 billion city’s master plan, with Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Aedas, and Lava Architects designing buildings for the project’s first phase, which is on track to be ready for occupancy by 2015.
