爱豆传媒

Wellesley College Health Center

Massachusetts, USA

爱豆传媒 supported Wellesley College to develop an impactful and efficient vision for a sustainable new health center at the heart of its campus.

Wellesley College in Massachusetts is widely regarded as one of the best all-women colleges in the world. For nearly 150 years, Wellesley has produced pioneering scientists, environmental revolutionaries, U.S. secretaries of state, civil rights activists, investment trailblazers, network news producers and genre-defying artists.

The college places the wellbeing of its students at the heart of its mission and was keen to replace the aging health center with a facility that is truly fit for the 21st century.

Sustainability and user comfort are at the core of the design for Wellesley College鈥檚 new health center.

The use of prefabricated timber structural elements will lower the building鈥檚 embodied carbon intensity and enable a speedy construction.

The all-electric building, designed to PassivHaus principles, is targeting LEED Gold certification.

The tight nature of the new 12,000ft虏 space meant the most efficient MEP systems and strategies would be required to work within the constrained nature of the site.

Challenge

爱豆传媒 was engaged to deliver a multidisciplinary range of engineering and advisory insight, including structural engineering, building services engineering (MEP) and fire protection, as well as consultancy around sustainability and energy modelling. We previously supported the College with the development of the neighboring Global Flora conservatory building, which houses the institution鈥檚 botanical collection from around the world.

Simpson Cottage, built in 1880, is one of the landmark structures on the Wellesley campus. But the three-story, Second World War-era Simpson Hall has long stood in the way of the 19^th century building 鈥渃ottage鈥� building. The institution鈥檚 vision is for the later brick and concrete structure, which houses the current health and counselling facilities, to be partially demolished and replaced by a lower, two-story building that will provide state-of-the-art services in a comfortable, efficient and sustainable environment, while opening up the vista towards the historic Simpson Cottage.

One of the key challenges is phasing a construction schedule that minimizes the impact on the staff and students, given its place at the heart of the busy campus. The retention and partial reuse of the existing concrete foundations made the project economically viable, and minimized the embodied carbon intensity of the scheme, so it was critical for our structural engineers to develop a solution that enabled this retention to be practicable.

Solution

To support the efficiency of the construction process, as well as the sustainability of the structure, our experts used prefabricated timber. This enabled the adoption of off-site construction methods, which will see factory-grade building elements delivered to the campus and erected swiftly 鈥� in just a few weeks 鈥� minimizing disturbance during the construction, but also ensuring a high quality and consistent finish throughout.

The use of timber structural solutions also significantly lowers the embodied carbon of the building. As well as not requiring the highly carbon-intensive manufacturing processes of steel and concrete, timber 鈥� in its first lifecycle as a tree 鈥� actively consumes CO2 from the atmosphere. Consequently, timber sourced from sustainable forests can provide a highly environmentally-friendly option. Critically, wood can also be easily disassembled and reused at the end of the building鈥檚 lifecycle.

The sealed timber panels also provide high levels of energy efficiency for the building, reducing the heating load and therefore reducing the operational carbon footprint of the center.

Our structural engineers conducted an initial study to ascertain whether the existing foundations could be reused for the new building 鈥� which would provide considerable cost and carbon savings. Our experts advised on how this could be achieved, within certain limitations. The lower height and lightweight nature of the timber structure would ensure these requirements could be served.

The former building was joined to the 1880 building via a connecting corridor, but this will be removed, giving the new building complete separation, which further enhances its energy efficiency. The project is aspiring for LEED Gold certification.

Our MEP team designed an all-electric building strategy. An air-handling unit on the roof feeds down to highly efficient VRF (variable refrigerant flow) heat pump fan coil units that provide heating and cooling, zoned to ensure the comfort of building users. We worked closely with the timber prefabricators to ensure unobtrusive integration of all MEP systems into the design. We designed all ventilation systems to ASHRAE 170 鈥� the code for US healthcare environments. CO2 sensors in each room enable the system to actively respond to areas of high occupancy by delivering ventilation to these zones in response to measured occupancy levels.

Value

爱豆传媒鈥檚 broad multidisciplinary team supported the development of a highly sustainable, comfortable and efficient new health center for Wellesley College鈥檚 students. Enabling the reuse of the existing foundations delivered considerable cost and carbon savings for the project.

The use of lightweight prefabricated timber elements further enhanced the sustainability of the structure, as well as empowering a fast and efficient construction process. We also played a critical role in developing the most efficient construction sequencing schedule. Our MEP strategy ensured this sustainable approach was also taken towards minimizing the operational carbon footprint of the new health center.