爱豆传媒

University of Cincinnati Clifton Court Hall

Cincinnati, USA

A multidisciplinary team from 爱豆传媒 played an integral role in the realisation of the University of Cincinnati’s Clifton Court Hall, a new interdisciplinary building dedicated to several departments within the College of Arts and Sciences.

The building accommodates various disciplines previously scattered across campus within a concept sensitive to the surrounding architectural heritage and building materiality.

The University of Cincinnati鈥檚 185,000ft虏 Clifton Court Hall features a range of multidisciplinary research and education facilities.

We provided structural and MEP engineering design as well as ICT, security/AV design, sustainability/ LEED consulting, energy modelling, and CFD Smoke modelling.

The building features a pair of striking 40ft cantilevers, which create a stepping-out of the above-ground levels, maximizing the teaching spaces.

More than 1,000 classroom seats are housed across a mix of flexible flat-floor teaching spaces, seminar rooms and a collaborative auditorium.聽

Challenge

The University of Cincinnati鈥檚 new 185,000ft虏 academic building opened in fall 2023 as part of the University鈥檚 Uptown Campus-West. The prominent location 鈥� at the intersection of pedestrian access, commuter access, and a variety of auditorium and classroom buildings 鈥� is on a sloped site that sits on the historic Academic Ridge. The building is a major entry point for the campus, located near public transportation and supporting the campus鈥� westward expansion.

Teamed with design architect LMN and architect of record KZF Design, 爱豆传媒 provided structural and MEP engineering design as well as sustainability, LEED, and ICT/AV consultancy and energy modelling services for this new multidisciplinary building.

One of the key project challenges was around optimizing space within the building. This included an aspiration to put as much as possible of the MEP equipment into the basement, freeing up the ground floor for events, administration and engagement spaces. This aspiration had to be balanced with the need to minimize the depth of the basement, given that the ground conditions meant digging almost immediately into rock.

Another key challenge was created by the architectural vision for a large atrium space. This required careful consideration and digital modelling, in terms of both energy optimization and smoke simulation, to ensure safe egress in the event of a fire.

The design process took place during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, which required the team to develop processes and procedures for remote collaboration with a variety of stakeholders across the country. The key structural challenges included the building鈥檚 鈥渉eadpieces鈥� 鈥� a pair of 40ft cantilevers on either side of the building, which create a stepping-out of the above-ground levels and enable circulatory spaces outside the entrances, while maximizing the teaching spaces above, as well as the multi-level monumental staircase that is the architectural focal point of the atrium space.

Solution

Our structural engineers worked closely with the design team to ensure the robustness and resiliency of this visually-striking cantilever structure. The multidisciplinary nature of our team also allowed close collaboration between our structures and MEP experts, which ensured efficient interfaces with the mechanical systems that needed to feed into the cantilevered headpieces as well as the atrium.

Inside, the building features a long, diagonally-oriented monumental staircase that provides access to three levels as well as creating a striking red focal point. This feature is also supported using cantilevered elements, making it more challenging to control the structural vibrations. Our experts worked closely with the architects to understand the desired architectural features of the stairs and gateway structures ornamenting the stairs and helped evolve the design accordingly, using specialist software.

The atrium includes a large pop-up with clerestory windows that infuse the central space with daylight and the perimeter windows, visually connecting with the surrounding campus. A series of community and collaboration spaces provide space to foster academic discourse and social exchange.

Clifton Court Hall features classrooms designed to support active learning, faculty and staff offices, research spaces, and collaborative areas to enhance interdisciplinary engagement within the University鈥檚 College of Art & Sciences. The new facility houses a variety of departments including Psychology, Communications, Journalism and Languages, among others.

Every aspect of the design encourages collaboration and provides flexibility to adapt to rapidly changing and evolving co-curricular opportunities.

Additional features of the facility are an exterior terrace, a 150-seat lecture hall, a large multipurpose space, access into the building on three grade levels from the outdoors, a student lounge, and a pedestrian bridge linking Clifton Court to McMicken Hall.

Our structural engineers played a key role in the development of the pedestrian bridge, which was seen as critical in ensuring the building is activated as a thoroughfare for students moving across the campus.

Our team developed a series of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) based digital models to demonstrate the movement of smoke around the atrium space in the event of a fire. This allowed the design to be adapted to ensure safe evacuation procedures.

Clifton Court Hall has been designed to incorporate several sustainability strategies, targeting LEED Silver certification. Our experts supported the application for certification, upskilling the wider design team in LEED requirements, as well as delivering the initial assessment to ensure the project would meet the parameters for certification.

Our ICT and audio visual (AV) experts supported the development of adaptable classrooms that can be configured for traditional lectures or group instruction using multiple smart TVs. The building also includes several innovative spaces, such as state-of-the-art TV production and digital animation studios.

Value

The new Clifton Hall Court building, with its terracotta facade, blends harmoniously with the classical campus. Our broad multidisciplinary team played a key role in the development of a vibrant, efficient and sustainable new landmark for the site.

More than 1,000 classroom seats are housed across a mix of flexible flat-floor teaching spaces, seminar rooms and a collaborative auditorium. The design emphasizes functional flexibility in response to the multiplicity of program needs and continually evolving teaching requirements.