To best provide Wheaton College undergraduate and graduate students with a quality science education, school leaders recognized the need for a new state-of-the-art research and teaching facility. This 128,000-square-foot science center called for the most high-tech equipment on the market today – including the energy-saving HVAC system that heats and cools the building.
Having worked with HTS Chicago on similar projects in the past, KJWW Engineering Consultants contacted David Warner, principal of HTS Chicago, for support.
To accommodate stringent atmospheric guidelines for laboratories, HTS Chicago provided high-speed variable volume laboratory ventilation and temperature controls by Phoenix Controls. HTS Chicago also interfaced this equipment to the Building Automation System along with Haakon Industries custom air-handling units utilizing two integral types of energy recovery.
“This new HVAC system was an ideal match to properly vent, heat, and cool the research laboratories, classrooms, offices, greenhouse, and vivarium housed within the facility,” said Warner. “This equipment, along with other environmentally friendly design elements – such as a green roof made of self-sustaining ground cover – is being used as the college pursues a LEED Gold certification.”
Established 150 years ago, Wheaton College now combines generations of history and experience with a new facility and cutting-edge equipment, laying the groundwork for the finest scientific discoveries of tomorrow.
