The new Gateway Community College in New Haven, Conn., is one of the few community colleges in the country designed to meet the Architecture 2030 Challenge that sets a 60 percent carbon emission reduction as a benchmark to address climate change. Designed by New York City-based Perkins+Will, the LEED NC Gold certified building serves as a learning tool for classes focused on renewable energy system design and installation. It is also an integral part of the college’s new Center for a Sustainable Future program.
Located downtown, the new 367,000-square-foot facility consolidates the school’s two existing campuses and serves 7,000 students. The facility, which spans two blocks, includes a light-filled atrium and a high-visibility façade that creates views from the street to the multistory library and classes in progress inside. A four-story bridge over George Street connects the two city blocks together, creating an urban campus hub. Inside, a large LED media wall art installation displays portraits of every professor and student enrolled at Gateway.
“Our goal was to design Gateway Community College in a cost-effective manner, but also to meaningfully engage with the city of New Haven, to have a powerful impact on the local community,” says Robert Goodwin, AIA, LEED AP, design principal with Perkins+Will.
Goodwin explains that the building is designed so the sustainable features are visible, giving people an inside view of how the building works. The design integrates a series of features that express its sustainability, including a photovoltaic array on a trellis aligned with the linear atrium space that spans two blocks. The photovoltaic array is monitored inside the building, allowing students to see the power it creates and how it contributes to the building’s energy needs.
The building also features passive strategies, such as at the library, which features a three-story glass wall that faces south and is integrated with full-glass exterior louvers from The Airolite Co. LLC, Schofield, Wis., to cut down on heat gain while regulating the light coming into the library. This allows a series of computer stations that run along the glass to be protected and used in bright sunlight. An ice storage system in the building’s basement helps make it more efficient by generating ice at night when power costs are lower, and then supporting the air conditioning system during the day. Additionally, a rain garden collects stormwater, which is treated at the back of the building.
“You can make a building that is LEED Gold and you can’t tell that building from a building that has all its systems are concealed,” says Goodwin. “But in this case, a lot of the systems are expressed as a way for students to understand how they relate to the way the building works, and are a part of the architectural language.”
Metal is used on almost the entire northwest side of the building, complementing the brick wall on the building’s southeast face. “We didn’t think it was the right move to have brick everywhere,” explains Goodwin, “and we liked the more streamlined effect of the corrugated aluminum panels.”
Filling a gap in the downtown fabric of New Haven, the college creates a new gateway into the city. It also plays a central role in the region’s educational, economic and workforce development initiatives.
Gateway Community College, New Haven, Conn.
Award: Award of Merit from the Connecticut Green Building Council’s 2013 Awards Program
Architect: Perkins+Will, New York City
Construction manager: Dimeo Construction Co., New Haven
Construction administrator: Gilbane Building Co., Glastonbury, Conn.
MEP engineer: BHV Integrated Services, Bloomfield, Conn.
Structural engineer: Thornton Tomasetti, New York City
Civil engineer: Stantec, Hamden, Conn.
Landscape design: Towers Golde, New Haven
Photovoltaic consultant: Relab LLC, Montclair, N.J.
Green trellis installer: T. Keefe & Sons, Guilford, Conn.
Metal ceiling installer: H. Carr & Sons Inc., Providence, R.I.
Metal wall panel installer: All Panel System, Branford, Mass.
ACM wall panels: ALPOLIC by Mitsubishi Plastics Composites America Inc., Chesapeake, Va.,
Curtainwall: United Architectural Metals, North Canton, Ohio, www.unitedarchitectural.com
Green trellis: greenscreen, Los Angeles, www.greenscreen.com
Insulated metal wall panels: Kingspan Insulated Panels Inc., Deland, Fla., www.kingspanpanels.us
Louvers: The Airolite Co. LLC, Schofield, Wis., www.airolite.com
Metal ceiling system: Steel Ceilings Inc., Johnstown, Ohio, www.steelceilings.com
Metal wall panels: Morin, a Kingspan Group company, Bristol, Conn., www.morincorp.com, and
Firestone Metal Products, Anoka, Minn., www.firestonemetal.com
Photovoltaics: Sanyo Electric (now Panasonic), San Diego, www.panasonic.net/sanyo
Photo: Woodruff/Brown Photography, courtesy of Perkins+Will NY