De Anza's Media Center Wins AIA Energy Award

The new Media & Learning Center (MLC) at De Anza College has won a Citation Award for energy performance from the American Institute of Architects' San Francisco Chapter, and from Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

The award was presented April 25 and honors built work that demonstrates how deep reductions in energy use are essential to good design in the 21st century.

The $37 million media center project was recognized for being one of few large buildings in the world featuring a passive down draft, natural‐air heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system that operates by drawing in outside air through tower‐shaped air intakes on the rooftop.

The MLC is expected to see a savings of 71 percent less energy than the regional average for higher education buildings, placing it well ahead of the AIA’s 2030 Challenge and 2015 reduction target, and saving the campus an estimated $60,000 per year, according to Ratcliff of Emeryville, the architect.

Ratcliff also designed the new Physical Sciences and Engineering Center that opened in January at Foothill College, and, like the MLC, was built with Measure C bond money  approved by voters of the Foothill De Anza Community College District. WSP (formerly WSP Flack+Kurtz), with their specialty sustainability team, Built Ecology, is the engineer of the MLC project. 

The passive downdraft ventilation system works this way: As the air passes over cooling coils and the temperature decreases, it falls downward through large airshafts into the under‐floor air plenums serving the first and second floors.

Strategically‐placed heating coils warm the air as needed for comfort, at which point the air is supplied to the building interior through local floor diffusers. As air is warmed by occupants and equipment, it rises—along with indoor pollutants—to ceiling exhaust shafts, which direct air into the atrium where it is ultimately released through clerestory louvers at the atrium rooftop.

The 67,000-square-foot structure houses fourteen classrooms, for anthropology and general education, all outfitted with the latest audio visual and communication technology. A specialized distance learning classroom, in conjunction with a TV studio and production suite, supports the campus’ broadcast media package that includes online, video streaming and cable TV services. A central two‐story atrium creates a dramatic interior public space and features exhibits by the anthropology department and an interactive dashboard tracking real‐time data about building performance and class information.

With the passive downdraft HVAC system, the following energy strategies are expected to earn the project a Platinum-rated LEED certification for new construction from the U.S. Green Building Council:

• Natural light: The atrium is bathed in natural light by a high‐performance, fritted‐glass skylight—integrated with a 6,000 square foot photovoltaic array—extending over its entire 80 yard length.The atrium is also a major component of the building’s unique buoyancy‐driven air circulation system, which ventilates more than 80 percent of the building without fan power.

• Heating and Cooling: The building uses an under‐floor air distribution system to deliver air directly into the occupied zone. This can reduce energy use and improve perceived indoor air quality by allowing for warmer supply air temperatures and encouraging thermal stratification. Space heating and cooling is provided throughout the atrium by a radiant floor system that circulates hot/cold water through tubes embedded in the concrete atrium slab.

• Solar Power: On‐site renewable energy systems will reduce annual energy costs by nearly 28 percent. In addition to the photovoltaic panels are 1,500 square feet of solar thermal collectors that will provide both domestic hot water and a large portion of the heating load during cold weather.

• Water Savings: Low‐flow plumbing fixtures reduce indoor water use to 48 percent below the calculated LEED baseline, equal to an annual savings of roughly 117,000 gallons of potable water.

• Materials: Interior materials including carpet tile, floor tile, insulating batts, acoustical panels and counter tops contain recycled and regional content materials.

• Siting: Siting the building to maximize exposure to north and south light was key to energy efficiency and also made room for a new landscaped quadrant that extends learning spaces out of doors. The grounds are also sustainable, with drought‐resistant vegetation, shade trees and storm‐water runnels that slow and treat storm water runoff.

De Anza College and Foothill College serve students serves the communities of Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Stanford, Sunnyvale, and portions of San Jose and Saratoga.

More on Mountain View Patch:

• Foothill Opens State-of-the-Art Science Center
• PHOTOS: Huge Eclipse Crowd Turns Out At Foothill
• Dr. Robert Smithwick 'Father of Foothill DeAnza' Passes

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