Page 88 - Designing for Zero Carbon - Case Studies of All-Electric Buildings

CASE STUDY NO. 4
REDFORD CONSERVANCY AT PITZER COLLEGE
classrooms and storage rooms. The total gross floor area required for this space program was determined to be 14,125 sq. ft.
The building program document included the initial target project goal for sustainability of LEED- Gold, which was identified by the project team as achievable without significant extra cost. This goal was able to be “stretched” to LEED-Platinum and zero-net-energy performance during the design phase through application of successful design strategies and a donation of the solar PV system to the project. (See discussions below.)
Design Process and Low-Energy, Zero-Carbon Design Strategies
For the next step in the process after Phase 1, the consultant team for the feasibility/program- ming study was selected as the design team for the project, who then proceeded to develop the ideas outlined in the building program.
Planning Concept and General Design Considerations
The initial challenge was to accommodate as much as possible of the identified space program within the useful parts of the existing building and to devise additional useful space for the re- maining program elements. This was all very dependent on the state of the existing structure and what could be done with it. This proved to be challenging.
Though not listed on any historic registry, the existing structure had historical value to the college and the local area. It was built in 1931 as a 20-bed quarantine facility and infirmary for students of the recently-founded (1925) consortium of the Claremont Colleges. It was located on the 12-acre field station property across from the Colleges to provide isolation at the end of the pre-antibiotic era. The design of sun-filled, naturally ventilated spaces was the conventional approach in these times, intended as a method of treatment as well as quarantine.
In the mid-1970s, the facility was closed since it was both obsolete and in need of extensive seismic upgrading. Shortly afterward, the building caught fire and received severe water dam- age of the interior during the fire suppression response. The City of Claremont would not grant a demolition permit because of the historic aspects of the building. Because the field station in which it was located was intentionally kept in its natural state over decades, the remnants of the building remained undisturbed (at least by humans) until 2015. The Conservancy project would restore the building to its original outward appearance while transforming the interior to its new program uses.
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Designing for Zero Carbon: Volume 1