Gateway Community College’s colossal three-story structure transforms campus
GateWay Community College, Phoenix, has added a new all-in-one, 122,000-square-foot facility to its urban campus. The Integrated Education Building (IEB) is centrally located on campus and integrates an entire new campus of functions into a single, colossal three-story structure. The IEB provides a new student services center, learning center and community library, instructional labs, classrooms, faculty offices, and a large community- oriented, 200-seat multipurpose classroom.
“The IEB literally houses an entire campus of programs inside of a single structure,” says Mark Kranz, AIA, design director, Phoenix-based Smith- GroupJJR, the architectural firm for the project. “Sited at the center of a campus that hadn’t built any new buildings for decades, the IEB completely transforms this urban campus and invites the community in.”
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Not only does it transform the campus, it provides transformational momentum for a historically blighted and under-valued part of the city. The IEB needed an affordable, no-maintenance material that could blend with a series of existing and new buildings on campus. Metal panels offered a high-recycle content material with little waste to help achieve the LEED Gold status the project is seeking. Chandler, Ariz.-based Kovach Building Enclosures, San Antonio-based Berridge Manufacturing Co. and Mesa, Ariz.-based BEMO-USA all provided metal to the project The project also required the making of numerous types, sizes and locations of shaded outdoor student spaces.
Copper, bare Galvalume and aluminum composite material (ACM) are utilized strategically and creatively to become main features of the design. “A series of calibrated, perforated copper panels are employed to create ‘breathable shade,’ while acting as a railing for balconies, stairs and outdoor terraces and student spaces,” says Kranz. “Both copper and bare Galvalume were custom broken to create articulated shading elements that also highlight the materials themselves in the overall design. The sculptural qualities of the ‘bowl’ or ‘copper room’ were advanced by the use of ACM panels and integrated LED lighting. The design team worked extensively with the fabricator and installer to custom design each panel system based on performance criteria of shade, span and material waste elimination.”
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Also, the perforated copper and Galvalume panel profiles promoted “breeze making” and maintained views where appropriate. The perforated panels created extensive daylighting while blocking the direct light and glare. Metal gave the design team a great deal of panel design flexibility and a material that could weather beautifully and naturally in Arizona’s arid desert climate.
Housing four significantly unique programs under one roof was the fundamental IEB design challenge. The requirement for each program to have its own identity and legible entry access and visibility in an expansive structure addressed through the use of common materials, applied graphics, formal strategies, color and texture. But this was a difficult requirement to fulfill.
“There was some interesting tension around the dual goals of creating a facility that both felt unified architecturally while also celebrating the unique individual program elements,” Kranz says. “The building most significantly orients itself towards the main existing campus quadrangle and amphitheater, with a cascading series of outdoor spaces that create community, and elevate the
‘brand’ of the campus and its student identity. The ‘scoop’ element is comprised of a double layer of custom broken perforated copper panels that create shade for outdoor student study space.”
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The building’s entire south façade is shaded with a protective layer of articulated copper shade scrims, creating elevated terrace space at the building’s upper levels. An intentional horizontal thrust accentuates the movement of students into the heart of campus.
Designers wanted to stretch the time of day and year that students and faculty could enjoy outdoor spaces. “We planned for outdoor study spaces on all edges of the building, north south, east and west, and calibrated those environments with uniquely designed shading elements,” Kranz says. “This idea was that regardless of time of year or time of day, there would always be some place to hang out in and around the building.”
MA Design Award judges were so impressed with the IEB they called it, “phenomenal” and “a catalog of different ways to use metal siding.”
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IEB environmental attributes
- Project meets 2030 Challenge
- Active and passive shading of all glazing, balancing day lighting strategies
- Light-well harvester at library/learning center
- Daylight sensors along perimeter areas
- Occupancy sensors minimizes energy use in lighting and mechanical system
- Solar thermal domestic hot water system supplies 17 percent of the hot water demands
- Excess hot water from the solar thermal system is used to pre-heat the boiler, reducing boiler demands for heating and reheat functions
- Environmental exhaust from the main building utilizes energy recovery to temper makeup air to the laboratory spaces
- Night time set-back of laboratory fume hood exhausts
- 41 percent reduction in lighting needs over ASHRAE 90.1-2007
- 40 percent overall energy reduction over ASHRAE 90.1-2007
- 100 percent of storm water is captured and treated on-site
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Gateway Community College Integrated Education Building, Phoenix
Completed: July 2012
Total square footage: 122,000 square feet
Building owner: Maricopa County Community College District
Architect: SmithGroupJJR, Phoenix, www.smithgroupjjr.com
General contractor: CORE Construction, Phoenix, www.coreconstruct.com
Metal installer: Kovach Building Enclosures, Chandler, Ariz., www.kovach.net
Metal suppliers: Kovach Building Enclosures, Chandler, www.kovach.net, Berridge Manufacturing Co., San Antonio, www.berridge.com, BEMO-USA, Mesa, Ariz., www.bemousa.com