Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Tour "A"
11:00 am – 3:00 pm
The Science Center at Hudson Valley Community College
80 Vandenburgh Avenue, Troy, NY 12180
Design Team: Mosaic Associates and Payette
Designed to achieve a LEED Gold Certification, the new Science Center integrates science departments and programs that have been scattered throughout campus. The new flagship facility stands prominently at the edge of campus, creating a distinct identity for the college and embracing the campus' commitment to their students, faculty and staff.
Some of the Science Center's green features include planting native/adaptive vegetation, water-efficient landscaping, innovative wastewater technologies, water use reduction through efficient plumbing fixtures, low-emitting materials, recycled content building materials, and construction waste management. The building optimizes energy performance through variable frequency drives on air handling units, reduced hourly air changes, high performance fume hoods, chilled beam technology, and lighting and thermal comfort system controllability.
This new facility aligns with the college's vision to offer a 21st century education that meets the needs of the 21st century workforce. The college believes that this enhanced academic atmosphere will empower their students to learn and thrive.
Troy Middle School
Enlarged City School District of Troy,
1976 Burdett Avenue,
Troy, NY 12180
Design Team: Mosaic Associates, Hamlin Design, Educational Legacy Planning
Originally built in the early 1970's, TMS lacked natural light and sufficient air quality. Circulation patterns were poor and did not provide enough sight for adequate supervision. Renovations included the reconfiguration of pathways to provide clear lines of sight for ease of supervision. The primary entry was transformed to better orient students, staff and community members. It serves as a gateway between the community and the school in a welcoming fashion. The main atrium provides an informal gathering place and the adjacent "Troy Room" has a more formal purpose for student and community events.
To foster collaborative teaching and community among students, staff and faculty, "small learning communities" were created and designed via adjacency, proximity and primary circulation routes. Each small learning community provides facilities for two teams of core teachers and an administrative and guidance team. These "communities" engender a sense of camaraderie within a larger school environment.
Tour "B"
11:00 am – 4:00 pm
University at Albany School of Business
1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12203
The building draws much of its design inspiration from the existing Edward Durell Stone Podium complex and quadrangle residence halls that dominate much of the Uptown Campus. The formality of the orthogonal aesthetics of the Durell Stone buildings is respected and preserved in the new building, but in a more modern interpretation.
This building has been awarded LEED Gold certification from the United States Green Building Council, a measure of sustainability and green features of building design, construction, and operations. The building incorporates a maximization of daylight (to reduce lighting needs) with specially designed precast panels, clerestory skylights, and automatic daylight responsive lighting controls as well as triple glazed insulated glass, and a low velocity ventilation system. The building will include a real-time building efficiency information center in the lobby.
Tech Valley High School
246 Tricentennial Drive, Albany, NY 12203
Design Team: EYP
The new Tech Valley High School (TVHS) is a living lab for innovative education in the heart of New York's Tech Valley. The facility provides an ultramodern environment for collaborative, project-based learning in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. Its location on SUNY Polytechnic Institute's Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering campus enables students to interact with and learn from the many high-tech companies housed at the Nanotech Complex.
TVHS features 25,000 square feet of state-of-the-art infrastructure, including a one-to-one computer environment with wireless internet and projection capability, and highly specialized design and fabrication labs that provide students with hands-on learning opportunities. Informal break-out spaces enable students to work on their own within strategic proximity to teachers. Integrated wireless and ubiquitous whiteboards encourage asynchronous learning throughout the building.
College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering
257 Fuller Road, Albany, NY 12203
Tour "C"
10:30 am – 3:30 pm
Gordon Creek Elementary School
50 Wood Road, Ballson Spa, NY 12020
Design Team: CSArch
Gordon Creek Elementary opened its doors to the Ballston Spa community on September 2013. This new elementary school was part of Phase I of a long-term capital facilities plan to update facilities to enhance 21st learning for the school district.
The Ballston Spa Central School District serves approximately 4,400 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. At the center of technological economic development in the Capital Region, the district offers pioneering coursework in Nanotechnology, Video Game Design, Biomedical Research, Robotics, Pharmaceutical Research and a Clean Technologies and Sustainable Industries Early College High School.
Gordon Creek Elementary was designed to accommodate the rapid growth in technology-based instruction, which is revolutionizing the way students interact in the classroom. Spaces were designed to focus on technology, embrace today's digital world, and highlight a contemporary form of learning. Today's tour will explore the unique use of space in the creation of a 21st century learning environment. This elementary school was designed by CSArch, a firm based in Albany, New York, well known for its work in the education market.
Clean Technologies & Sustainable Industries Early College High School at TEC-SMART
Ballston Spa CSD and Hudson Valley Community College
345 Hermes Road, Malta, NY 12020
TEC-SMART stands for Training and Education Center for Semiconductor manufacturing and Alternative and Renewable Technologies. TEC-SMART serves as a community resource for learning about energy efficient design and building techniques. The building incorporates green building techniques, which include the use of solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems as well as passive solar design in construction. With low carbon footprint and sustainable design features TEC-SMART is a showcase for energy efficient building principles. In 2011 it achieved US Green Building Council's LEED platinum certification.
The building ties into several of Hudson Valley Community College's education and training programs, as well as a collaboration with the Ballston Spa Central School District and their Clean Technologies and Sustainable Industries Early College High School. Two-five kilowatt wind turbines stand 120 feet tall and are adjacent to the TEC SMART building. Each turbine will generate nearly 2500 kilowatt hours of clean renewable electricity and be used as a teaching tool for the college's wind technician courses. Thanks to a generous donation from GE Energy the Wind Lab will use one of the company's wind turbines as a training aid. Photovoltaic energy (PV) generates 62.5 kilowatts of electricity from the sun. These arrays have generated over 54 megawatts in their lifetime, equivalent of saving 104 barrels of crude oil from being burned. Students can take several Photovoltaic courses, and serves as a Regional Training Provider for the US Department of Energy's Solar Instructor Training network. The 65 geothermal wells on the site help with the building's heating and cooling needs. The College's Workforce Development Institute offers several credit-free Energy Efficiency Courses at TEC-SMART including: Building Analyst, Envelope Specialist and several photovoltaic installation courses.
Schuylerville Middle School & High School
Schuylerville CSD
14 Spring Street, Schuylerville, NY 12871
Design Team: SEI Design Group