High Performing Buildings - Summer 2012 - (Page 14)

© Studio E Architects Above Left The modular components were trucked in and placed in a few weeks. Above Right The school, composed of modular and site-built components, is divided into grade “neighborhoods.” Each grade is centered around commons areas that are located under the raised upswept roofs. energy and the school receives a lease payment as well as a lobby kiosk with interactive access to the array’s data. Though water, energy, and resource efficiency are important for the community, evidence has shown that indoor air quality, acoustics, Lessons Learned Since this particular school opened, High Tech High has opened two more new schools based on similar planning and sustainability principles, and is continuing to grow with at least one new school per year. To accommodate this growth and ensure best practices are replicated, stakeholders constantly evaluate lessons learned from data and user feedback. Modular Construction Systems. A traditional reason for using modular construction systems is to reduce the time between building design and building occupancy. Though the 18-month timeline was a constraint on this project, High Tech High would not allow it to trump other core project values such as planning exibility, sustainability, transparency and architectural character. A modular construction systems manufacturer helped High Tech High understand that these systems embodied the core design values and reduced the project schedule to a minimum without increased risk to other parts of the project. With scopes of work occurring in parallel, rather than serially, management of communications and and daylighting directly impact student performance. This is where the project team focused its efforts and these became the metrics with which to measure the project. The school uses the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHIPS) Operations Report Card to evaluate the facility on an ongoing basis. The project team included an energy modeling consultant and acoustical engineer to analyze various project attributes and work collaboratively with the contractors and designers. Together the team efficiently reached consensus on how to cost-effectively approach indoor air quality, acoustics and daylighting. The result is many low-tech details that perform exceptionally well. Examples include translucent polycarbonate window panels, which add light while controlling glare, and insulated perforated metal panel ceilings, which absorb sound and reduce reverberation time. scope were critical for everyone to be on the same page. Every project has its own set of considerations, and High Tech High looks forward to leveraging the bene ts of modular construction systems in an upcoming elementary school project. Regulating Central Plant Water Use. A leak detector with an electronic shutoff valve at the building’s domestic water entry point is connected to the BMS. If a faucet leak occurs, or a toilet keeps running, the water to the building shuts off, and alarm notication is sent to the facilities team. The central plant, however, was not designed with something similar. The project has had a pipe leak in the chilled water supply pipe of the four-pipe mechanical system. When a small amount of water leaked out of one of the pipes, a re ll valve on the chiller simply added more. It wasn’t until someone noticed a wet spot in a crawlspace that the issue was found. A ow sensor and electronic valve will be added to the re ll valve to monitor how much water is being added to the system, so that abnormalities may be caught early. Sizing the Server Room Mechanical System. The mechanical engineer worked closely with the High Tech High Information Technology team to properly design and size the mechanical system to be a threeton ductless split system independent of the main four-pipe mechanical system. This allowed for the server room to be running 24/7, if necessary, even while the rest of the building was in holiday mode. The mechanical engineer sized the tonnage of the server room split system to include a 20% factor of safety. And, just before opening, the local telephone company changed the phone system to ber-optic relays and added its own server to the room, along with an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). This addition causes the split system to run nearly constantly in the summer to keep up. High Tech High intends to replace the existing 13.5 SEER three-ton unit with a 15 SEER ve-ton unit so the unit does not cycle on and off as frequently, and to ensure it can keep up with the heat load on even the most demanding hot summer days. 14 HIGH PERFORMING BUILDINGS Summer 2012 © Jim Brady

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High Performing Buildings - Summer 2012
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High Tech High Chula Vista
Kiowa County Schools
Northwest Maritime Center
La Reunion’s ENERPOS
Wilfred Uytengsu Sr. Center
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High Performing Buildings - Summer 2012