100 Word Description: Located at the entrance of Wake Tech Community College in a natural setting, the Regional Plant Teaching Facility creates a gateway to the campus and acts as a symbol of the merging of technology, education, and sustainability. While the building’s program is comprised of spaces to house heating and cooling equipment, it is also an educational facility for teaching students and the public about energy efficient building systems. A simple rectilinear glass and steel box with a perforated metal screen layer was designed to house, screen and display the technology and to create a unique educational space for the college.
Architect’s Statement: A Museum for Mechanical EquipmentWhile the primary function of the Regional Plant is to house heating and cooling systems, the project is an opportunity to highlight the beauty of building technology and to create a unique educational experience that reveals technology’s role in preserving the beauty of the natural world. The project showcases the beauty of the utilitarian and creates “a museum for mechanical equipment” where the equipment is on display as artifacts both to the students and to the public.Public Walkway for ViewingLocated at a main intersection to the campus, the building is a long rectilinear glass box where the teaching classroom floats above the forest floor cantilevering twenty feet into a grove of trees facing the main street. An exterior elevated covered public walkway runs the entire length of the building creating an entrance promenade for the public to see and view all of the HVAC equipment. The path showcases cooling towers, boilers, chillers and pumping equipment while LED screens explain the systems and how they achieve greater efficiency. This educational experience allows visitors to see the equipment while viewing the beauty of the natural setting. It further helps to enhance the public space at this critical campus intersection.Sliding Volumes The interior of the building is composed of simple rectilinear sliding volumes that express the functions of the Regional Plant. One of the volumes is carved to reveal a transparent glass control room that overlooks the entire mechanical room and is elevated four feet to allow for better viewing of the equipment. A ramp descends from this space down to the mechanical floor for taking visitors and students on tours. The adjacent solid servant volumes house the electrical room and private office. Another solid servant volume which houses the bathrooms “slides” out from the control room and is a simple rectilinear white solid volume framing the entrance lobby and view through the control room.
Type of Construction: In order to compose the glass and steel structure, a 4’-0” module was used which is based on the space to house a boiler and chiller. The module created an underlying geometric order for laying out the structural system, all HVAC equipment, and the metal screen. The structural steel system is a long span king post steel truss with stainless steel tension cables and clevises which support long span acoustic metal deck. The steel system supports a low E glass and aluminum curtain wall system. The steel trusses cantilever to support a secondary galvanized steel channel frame for supporting a perforated stainless steel corrugated screen. This screen is composed of openings that highlight the entrances and equipment inside. A masonry and CMU foundation wall creates a base to support the glass cantilevered volume and the metal screen layer.
