Highland Heights, Ky.-based Northern Kentucky University’s newest academic building is a five-story facility called the Northern Kentucky University Health Innovation Center that is changing the way health education is experienced. The new Center and renovation of the adjoining Founders Hall creates a seamless complex for learning, collaboration and practice. The unified 210,000-square-foot facility houses classrooms, offices, conference rooms, state-of-the art technology and learning centers, laboratories, popular student gathering spaces, and a full simulation and clinical skills suite to train practitioners in addressing Kentucky’s specific health challenges.
Cutting-edge facility educates and trains future health care professionals
PHOTOS: BILL TIMMERMAN, COURTESY CO ARCHITECTS
DESIGN CHALLENGES
Los Angeles-based CO Architects served as the executive architect and design architect on the project; Cincinnati-based GBBN Architects Inc. was the local liaison on the project. “The two firms worked seamlessly from the start of the project until completion,” says James Simeo, AIA, LEED AP, principal at CO Architects. “CO Architects took the lead in the design and record documentation phases of the project, and GBBN led the weekly on-site presence during construction.”
A primary challenge was seamlessly connecting the new Health Innovation Center to the renovated Founders Hall, which was constructed in 1974. The design also restores a native hillside that had been bulldozed for parking during the initial construction of Founders Hall. “While distinctive in outward appearances, together the two buildings form a seamless, integrated design that opens the surrounding inward-focused campus environment with welcoming, light-filled public spaces that bring in nature, draw in the campus community, connect users with the landscape, and serve as a metaphor for healing and regeneration,” Simeo says. Turner Construction Co., Cincinnati, was the facility’s general contractor, and Kalkreuth Roofing and Sheet Metal, Lexington, Ky., was the installer. The structural architect was THP Limited Inc., Cincinnati.
A COUNTERPOINT
The project sought to include metal panels on the building façade as a counterpoint to the heavy 1970s Brutalist, cast-in-place concrete buildings currently on campus. To draw light into the building, much of the ground-plane façade is comprised of large panes of glass. The metal panels enclose the spaces above the ground floor and lighten the building’s material palette by incorporating two different expressions of metal.
IMETCO (Innovative Metals Co. Inc.), Norcross, Ga., provided two distinct types of exterior metal wall panel systems. “[We supplied] approximately 17,500 square feet of solid and perforated aluminum Cor-Pan exposed fastener panels in custom orange, and an additional 8,000 square feet of Latitude concealed fastener panels in metallic grey; the combination of panel styles created a striking aesthetic,” says Josh Younger, marketing specialist at IMETCO. “Our engineering team collaborated with the other manufacturers involved in the project. Custom detail collaboration was necessary to properly mount the exposed fastener Cor-Pan system to the existing window framing system while allowing for the natural thermal movement of the metal panels.” Also, 0.05-inch aluminum cladding in custom colors was used.
To define and bring attention to the massing of the building’s loft space, Simeo says the corrugated, perforated panels in the earth-toned orange color contrast the surrounding gray buildings and act as a focal point for the building’s façade. “Flat metal panels in dark and mid-tone gray colors seamlessly work to mediate the new addition with the existing cast-in-place concrete structure. The metal façade’s earth tones also correlate to the surrounding landscape.”
“This job had several challenges from the custom colors desired in multiple locations to the 51% perforated panel install challenges, and, of course, the large plate pieces with custom 10-inch Z-girts,” says Jeff Piazza, division manager of Kalkreuth Roofing and Sheet Metal’s Kentucky division. “The entire system stands 10 inches off of the wall and when the panels cross over or around windows you had to make tight, clean transitions with large, bulky metals. Several window locations are fully covered by the 51% perforated panels. These areas needed to transition seamlessly, maintaining the exterior and interior viewing features while allowing for technical functions within all of the building envelopes expansion and contraction needs.”
CENTER FEATURES
Highlights of the building’s unique design include large, glass-enclosed social stairs and a five-story atrium space topped by a skylight supplied by Imperial Glass Structures, Wheeling, Ill. The facility’s rainscreen was supplied by Valley Interior Systems Inc., Cincinnati. Drainable, fixed aluminum louvers were supplied by Lebanon, N.J.-based Construction Specialties.
“A 6,000-square-foot exterior metal ceiling system with a shadow line perimeter trim (from Hunter Douglas Ceiling and Wall Products, a subsidiary of CertainTeed, Malvern, Pa.) greets you at the pavilion entrance,” says Chad Hudepohl, Valley Interior Systems’ director of corporate administration.
“Complete with two types of torsion spring clips, hold-down clips on each tile, 12-gauge hanger wire supports and uplift framing spaced 2 inches on-center in each direction, this complex ceiling transcends the curtainwall system to consume another portion of the grand lobby space. Soaring 30 feet above floor finish, this ceiling required a complex combination of scissor and boom lifts as well as scaffolding cantilevered over previously installed stadium seating and planted landscaping.”
The lobby space has eight of the project’s 50 total full-height aluminum column covers from Gordon Inc., Bossier City, La. The columns had 21 different variations and range in size from 20 inches to 30 inches in diameter.
Celina Glass Co. Inc., Celina, Ohio, designed, engineered and installed all of the curtainwall systems and dynamic glazing skylight system. “The specific skylight system used was challenging in all aspects as the glass is dynamic glass from View Inc., Milpitas, Calif.,” says Justin R. Rolfes, project manager at Celina Glass Co. “The glass is electronic and changes tint states with different environmental conditions. This was especially challenging because each lite of glass has a wire connected to it and has to be routed within the framing and back to a central control panel. The curtainwall systems were also challenging because of the perforated metal screen systems that had to interface with the envelope components and the Dow Thermax wall system [from Dow Building Solutions, Midland, Mich.], while still maintaining the desired aesthetics. Overall, the building uses some of the latest technology with regards to aluminum framing systems and dynamic glazing.”
YKK AP America Inc., Austell, Ga., worked with Celina Glass on this project. YKK AP’s YCW 750 Outside Glazed Curtainwall with a two-coat Exotic Metallic finish was used on the project along with YKK AP’s 50 D Monumental Doors and YOW 225 TU Operable Windows to meet the modern architecture of the project. “The YCW 750 OG is a pressure wall system that provides flexibility with a wide variety of face covers, depth back members and finishes that accommodate taller spans and higher design pressures,” says Steve Schohan, marketing and communications manager at YKK AP. “It provides improved thermal performance to conserve energy, lower operating costs and improve occupant comfort. YKK AP’s exterior glazing systems provide natural light without excessive solar heat gain, which also ensures the building’s energy efficiency and occupant comfort.”
The project is targeting LEED Gold certification with a 40% energy reduction over the baseline code through the use of chilled beams, geothermal wells and demand-controlled ventilation. Rain gardens filter and collect stormwater and are used as a teaching tool to demonstrate the importance of recharging natural water aquifers.