Design Assistance
Central Campus Chilled Water Plant #3
Central Campus Chilled Water Plant #3
The new Duke University Chilled Water Plant #3 sits on 7.4 acres in the central part of Duke’s campus. It is located near the arts district, which includes prominent attractions such as a prestigious botanical garden, a popular arts center, and a university art museum. The central campus location was chosen for several reasons – first, it is close to the existing chilled water loop and second, the site is perched at a higher elevation, providing energy-efficient pumping and distribution of chilled water to campus. The site also fronts a main vehicular and pedestrian thoroughfare for campus traffic and provides beautiful views of the adjacent botanical gardens - one of the most visited places in the city. The building is close to the street to reinforce the campus streetscape. The building also provides a visual buffer for a high voltage (HV) storage building and large cooling towers. Locating a chilled water plant on a major campus road and adjacent to prominent campus buildings required a careful approach to the facility's design.
“(…) we needed a material that would complement the surrounding architecture, including the university art museum. Among precast concrete’s many benefits is its flexibility as a design material – we used it to customize choices for color, texture, and materiality to fit in with its campus neighbors.”
- Chuck Mummert, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Principal, Flad
The use of refined precast wall panels, large amounts of glazing, and sunshades enables it to fit seamlessly into the campus context and positively contribute to the existing campus architecture and experience.
The new facility had to span high floor-to-floor construction due to the size of the mechanical chiller equipment inside. Construction would have been a challenge with other building materials; however, employing precast concrete panels provided a beneficial solution.
“Due to the oversized dimensions of the mechanical chiller and pump equipment, it was advantageous to erect the building’s structure around the equipment already in place. The exterior load-bearing precast concrete elements were manufactured under controlled factory conditions, allowing for precise quality control. Then they were delivered to the site and installed around the equipment.”
- Chuck Mummert, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Principal, Flad
The steel structure beams and columns were erected from the inside out, then enclosed with the exterior load-bearing precast panel. The panels were fabricated offsite and delivered ready to install in large sections. The precast concrete panels included two-inch insulation in the middle, eliminating the need for interior metal furring and drywall. The design team effectively used the insulated precast by exposing the material as the interior finish for multiple areas of the building.
Seeking to complement the surrounding campus context, the plant’s design employs insulated precast concrete wall panels to maintain the color, texture, and materiality found in the campus precinct. Insulated architectural precast cladding boasts one-inch-deep reveals at different intervals and multiple finishes to visually reduce the scale of the tall walls. The versatility, durability, and energy efficiency of the insulated precast wall system provided the design team with the desired aesthetics within this high-profile area of the campus.
“Using precast concrete offered this project many benefits including durability, energy efficiency, and versatility to meet the desired design aesthetic within this high-profile area of campus. For example, insulation is embedded in the panels, which helped reduce the cost of exterior steel support structure and provided the interior wall finish material all in one panel, reducing interior wall finish construction and costs.”
- Chuck Mummert, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Principal, Flad
The design provides unobstructed views into the facility from the street through large curtain wall openings in the precast, allowing pedestrians to see the large, color-coded equipment and piping inside that powers the campus. A steel sunshade canopy provides shading for the large windows and continues the use of metal sunshades and accent panels seen throughout the campus precinct. The sunshade structure is integrated into the precast wall panels with an inset steel channel that forms the main support for the sunshades. The sunshades emphasize the texture and relief variations within the precast panels through the shadows that are cast onto the precast wall panels.
This main building section is anchored with two massing projections to the north and south that house offices, training rooms, and conference rooms. They are designed with a similar aesthetic and mirror each other. Large windows open views to the north and south of campus with a defining brow of aluminum composite panels. The aluminum brows provide dramatic geometric elements that are set within the precast wall panels and align with the precast horizontal banding and areas of textural relief.
As one of the campus facilities featuring rooftop solar panels, the plant is designed for enhanced energy efficiency.
“As a highly visible facility that supports the university’s goals for carbon neutrality and a sustainable campus, the powerful cooling systems housed in this plant work in harmony with other university plant facilities forming a looped network of over 25 miles of pipes. This system works to efficiently cool buildings across campus, with Plant #3 specifically enabling a new, 490,000-square-foot hospital bed tower to come online and expand medical services in the community.”
- Chuck Mummert, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Principal, Flad
AWARDS
LOCATION
Durham, NC
ARCHITECT
Flad Architects