Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies
Architect: William McDonough + Partners
Location: Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
Status: Occupied, 1999

Awards The Chicago Athaeneum American Architecture Award, 1999
AIA Committee on Architecture for Education Honor Award, 1999
AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Award, 2002

The Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies houses the Environmental Studies program at Oberlin College in a 13,600 sf facility with an additional 58,000 sf of ecologically managed landscape. Designed as a teaching tool, the complex includes classrooms, offices, an auditorium, a Living Machine for waste water filtration and recycling, as well as an atrium that is used for receptions, workshops and concerts. Building energy consumption is significantly reduced through the integrated design of passive heating, natural ventilation and daylighting, and is supported by 45 kilowatts of photovoltaic panels on the roof. Critical reviews have identified the daylighting and visual quality of the building as a major success. Even with its popularity as a venue for evening events and classes, the Center has been found to consume over 70 percent less light energy than typical education buildings or other buildings on campus.

Loisos+Ubbelohde assisted in developing daylighting and shading designs and glazing alternatives throughout the building. Classrooms are designed to work with daylight during long winter months of overcast skies, as well as on clear sunny days. We used physical models and a mirror-box sky simulator to evaluate the illumination levels and visual comfort in the classrooms, offices and atrium. These studies resulted in a design that reduces the use of electrical lighting and associated cooling loads, works with passive solar heating strategies, improves visual comfort and connects the interior and exterior environments. To this end, classroom glazing works in concert with high, reflective ceilings, pendant lighting with both occupancy and photosensor controls, and light walls and carpeting. Direct sun is controlled by manually operated mini-blinds pending addition of a shading trellis. On the upper floor, classroom ceilings are curved and float over the wall separating the hallway and classroooms, bringing balancing light from the north clerestory. The curved roof continues well past the wall, providing an overhang for shade during summer months. Hallways and stairwells also are daylighted in keeping with the rest of the building. North side faculty offices are light-colored, with the windows adjacent to a side wall, which increases visual comfort and minimizes glare.

We conducted additional studies for the atrium shading design to reduce solar heat gain and improve visual performance. Glazed on the east and south with spectrally selective glass, the double-height room acts as a bright garden during overcast winters. Motorized shades can be deployed as needed to diffuse morning sun or can be retracted to accommodate varying skies and weather. An exterior trellis for plants and summer shade has been designed for the atrium, as well as the classrooms, although installation has been delayed pending future funding.

We also performed Radiance simulation studies, calibrated with physical models, providing Living Machine designers with information on the amount and seasonal variation of solar radiation that would be received by tanks located in a greenhouse structure on the east side of the atrium, adjacent to the building's auditorium.