Berry College Science Building

Jerry Percifield, O'Neal, Inc. Architects and Engineers

Abstract:

Berry College is one of the largest land-holding colleges in the United States and the new School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences is the first new building to be constructed on the historic campus in nearly 30 years. O'Neal provided both architectural and engineering design services for this 130,000 square-foot facility, which houses lecture halls, classrooms, and teaching & research labs for biology, chemistry, computer sciences, earth sciences, physics and astronomy. The design solution successfully supports the college's new interdisciplinary approach to teaching and creates opportunities for Berry's students to gain "real world" research experience through one-on-one interaction with faculty in dedicated student-faculty research labs.

One of the unique features of the Sciences Building's design is the engineering of the HVAC systems, which incorporates the use of Enthalpy Recovery Wheels to reclaim energy from the exhausted air stream. This type of energy recovery system is relatively new in the engineering of laboratory facilities as it was not allowed under NFPA 45 until 1996. Since then only a few facilities in the U.S. have incorporated such a system in their HVAC design.

This paper will present the details of the engineering design, the impact on the central energy plant, the social and economic impacts on Berry College, and the technical aspects of integrating this system into the overall building design. The presentation will include materials describing the facility, photographs and computer graphics, and will also include discussions of the design and engineering processes.

Biography:

Not available at this time.