Tucson, Arizona, USA
The University of Arizona, with the design for the new Environment and Natural Resources Building Phase 2 (ENR2), has made an epic commitment to sustainable design through technology-innovative methods to reduce energy consumption, decrease water-use, promote the utilization of natural processes and energy sources, and increase the useful life for building components and spaces.
Environmental and Natural Resources II: University of Arizona won a recent 2021 Green Good Design® Award from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum.
The design provides the opportunity for building users and the public to see and interact with sustainability in action. The climatic response of the building borrows from the slot canyon; its massive stone walls provide both cool thermal mass and critical shade from the intense summer sun.
The building’s orientation and the care taken in the facades’ design and material selection optimize building users’ comfort and the durability of the building for the desert environment.
The deep cantilevered overhangs further shade the glazing from the most extreme summer sun. The east and west elevations consist of opaque concrete tower cores with limited glazing to limit solar heat gain. These features decrease the need for ambient lighting for much of the building and limit the amount of solar heat gain to the interior, significantly decreasing overall building energy requirements.
Tempering the outdoor terraces is accomplished through the exfiltration of indoor spaces via thermostatically controlled exhaust fans, as well as a series of HVLS (High Volume Low Speed) ceiling fans strategically spaced throughout the courtyard balconies.
The design incorporates traditional water use reduction methods such as waterless urinals, dual flush toilets, and low flow/demand sensing faucets. Additionally, the project harvests rainwater from the roof and canyon floor, storing it for irrigation in a 52,000-gallon storage tank that manages 98 percent of stormwater onsite.
A second source for irrigation is condensate water, a very clean by-product of the HVAC system. Normally discarded down the building’s sewer system, all the condensate for this building and four nearby buildings is piped to the storage tank as well. The combined sources provide more than half of the water used annually for irrigation. No potable water is used to irrigate the plants on the site.
The designers implemented a building management concept where portions of the building are shut down when not in use for an extended period. Known as building hibernation, the process reduces building energy cost by allowing areas not in use to have a higher temperature swing. This process saves on energy costs without impacting the comfort of the building occupants.
A truly sustainable building can be reconfigured without extensive costs or material waste. One of the more salient design strategies to this end is a superstructure of columns configured on a grid with a raised floor.
Many of the materials used to construct the building embody low amounts of energy either because they are made from rapidly renewable resources, recycled products, or are locally produced resources that require minimal transportation.
The finishes are low or no VOCs and have a long-life cycle, and do not need to be replaced because they are designed to withstand continuous long-term use with little to no maintenance.
Project: Environmental and Natural Resources II: University of Arizona
Architects: Richärd Kennedy Architects
Architects of Record: GLHN Architects & Engineers
Design Team: James Richärd, Kelly Bauer, Stephen Kennedy, Nick Nevels, Andrew Timberg, and Maura Gonzalez
Client: University of Arizona
Photographers: Bill Timmerman, Liam Fredrick, and Marion Brenner