Metrics and Integrated Laboratory Design: The LEED Platinum Dartmouth Life Science Center
Natalie Gentile, RA, LEED AP®, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Larry Jones, LEED AP, Atelier Ten
The Dartmouth Class of 1978 Life Science Center (DLSC) is a biology and life science academic and research center that spans approximately 174,000 gross square feet. Located on the northern edge of the historic campus, it includes research and teaching laboratories, gallery space, offices, a nuclear magnetic resonance suite, and a greenhouse. The project was recently awarded LEED® Platinum certification.
The design team, in working through an integrated design process, delivered a high-performance building that exceeded the college's expectations. This integrated design process included periodic charrettes during which the team together developed, agreed to, and benchmarked their progress against ambitious energy performance metrics, which guided the design of a high-performance laboratory building. Furthermore, these metrics were evaluated and verified throughout design via energy modeling. As a result, the DLSC is expected to achieve an energy use intensity of 97,000 British thermal units per square foot each year (Btu/ft2/yr) compared to the ASHRAE baseline building of 199,000 Btu/ft2/yr. This is a remarkable achievement for a laboratory building in the Northeast United States.
The speakers will discuss the importance and the usefulness of setting specific metrics early in the design phase; it is as powerful a tool as design software. The discussion will highlight how those metrics were verified throughout design. The speakers will also describe how the team worked together in an integrated design process to deliver a LEED Platinum laboratory building. The speakers will highlight architectural strategies for low-energy laboratory buildings, including high-performance envelopes, flexible space programming, daylight design, and reducing lighting loads. Special attention will also be paid to the ways in which the conditioning systems support the architectural design and meet the stringent energy metrics set in the beginning of the design phase. Those HVAC measures include variable air volume supply/exhaust, chilled beams and radiant heat panels, mixed mode ventilation, low pressure drop ductwork and terminal controllers, and the Aircuity system.
Biographies:
Natalie Gentile has spent 25 years at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, where she has been involved in a variety of projects, most associated with academic institutions. Recently, Ms. Gentile was project manager for the $92 million DLSC at Dartmouth College. Through a focused effort on integrated design strategies and multiple sustainability metrics, the building is expected to be one of the most energy efficient life sciences buildings in the United States. Prior to this commission, Ms. Gentile was the project manager for the $50 million Engineering and Molecular Sciences building at Smith College. The building incorporates several green practice strategies and highlights the building as a teaching tool concept. The project received a LEED Gold certification. Ms. Gentile is a LEED AP and leads efforts in this area of the firm's practice. She is a proven manager of project teams that address issues of sustainable design for complex and technically demanding projects.
Larry Jones is Atelier Ten's international benchmarking practice leader, with a background in environmental management systems and processes, and experience managing LEED, Estidama, the Living Building Challenge, BREEAM green building certification, and net zero energy buildings for major institutional and commercial projects. Mr. Jones also currently heads the Atelier Ten New Haven, Connecticut, environmental design group. His experience in environmental design ranges from new construction to existing buildings and includes institutional, community, and K-12 projects designed with innovative, energy-efficient strategies. Some recent high-performance projects include several renovations at the Yale University School of Medicine, Boston University, and Harvard University, as well as elementary and high school projects throughout Connecticut. Mr. Jones has guest lectured at the Yale University School of Architecture and the University of New Haven. He is a LEED AP and holds a Bachelor in Science in environmental engineering from Syracuse University.