Los Angeles, CA – July 28, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA) has been awarded the architectural contract for the College of the Desert’s new Palm Springs West Valley Campus, which sets new benchmarks for integrating sustainable design and high-performance building technologies into the academic curriculum. HGA is directing master planning, programming, design and sustainability of the multi-phase campus.
“The College of the Desert’s vision for a self-sustaining campus is to produce more energy than it consumes,” said James Matson, AIA, vice president and director of HGA’s Los Angeles office. “The plan emphasizes energy production along with aggressive conservation and energy efficiency, waste recovery and biomimicry in partnership with green industries and educational initiatives. The campus will consider the site’s unique ecology and natural resources to create a national model for sustainable research and teaching that supports the local economy and educational needs in western Coachella Valley.”
Master Plan
Located at the northwest corner of Indian Canyon Drive and Tramview Road, approximately ½-hour drive from the Palm Desert Campus, the new community college campus will serve as gateway to the City of Palm Springs. The 119-acre campus includes a 59-acre tabular rasa academic campus designed by HGA; and an adjacent 60-acre “GreenPark” solar farm, which the college will lease to Southern California Edison to provide clean energy to Coachella Valley and a revenue source for the campus.
HGA’s master plan identifies building orientation, campus circulation and growth over seven phases. The U-shaped academic campus wraps around the existing James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center, integrating community activity into the campus. The master plan aligns with the college’s four educational “pillars” to promote business partnerships—Hospitality & Tourism, Media & the Arts, Allied Health, and Sustainability Technology. The campus includes 420,000 square feet of academic space and 230,000 square feet of leasable Public-Private Venture (PPV) space, which will serve as both academic buildings and incubator space for start-ups.
“The Research & Development facilities and Business Incubator programs will help generate revenue streams and offer real-world applications of state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies implemented in the college’s academic curriculum,” Matson added.
Design Details
The architecture reflects Palm Springs’ midcentury-modern style while integrating ecological opportunities of the desert landscape through biomimicry, which incorporates sustainable processes from nature into the campus plan and architectural systems. The master plan addresses sun, shade, wind and biomimicry along an Arroyo, or dry riverbed, that winds though campus as the main organizing element. HGA is researching and testing integrated systems to improve building performance, including façades that minimize heat gain, energy-efficient mechanical systems, photovoltaic solar panels, storm-water reservoirs for evaporative cooling, shading and day lighting techniques, wind protection, and desert landscaping with seasonal plantings.
Phase one includes 50,000 square feet of academic space occupying several buildings clustered around a shaded courtyard. The phase one program includes Basic Skills Labs, a possible dental lab in partnership with Loma Linda University, and a Desert Energy Enterprise Center (DEEC) that engages students in the engineering of solar panels and wind turbines.
“This project has forward-thinking goals that go beyond Net Zero Energy to embrace a Zero-Plus plan that creates renewable clean energy rather than simply uses less energy,” said Patrick Thibaudeau, AIA, LEED AP, vice president of sustainable design at HGA. “The Zero-Plus plan targets five integrated sustainable goals—zero energy plus; zero carbon; sustainable hydrology; zero waste; and zero pollution. The plan emphasizes on-site electricity production through photovoltaic solar panels and establishes consumption targets to be less than or equal to available resources. As an educational model, the West Valley Campus is an opportunity to integrate local ecology, create innovative learning opportunities for students, and bring together public agencies, the college and private industry to explore new approaches to sustainability.”
Background
The City of Palm Springs obtained the 119-acre site from the Bureau of Land Management in fall 2010. The city then transferred the land to Desert Community College District for the new West Valley Campus to serve Palm Springs, Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs in western Coachella Valley. The College of the Desert enrolls approximately 12,000 students.
The master plan and phase one is funded through Measure B Bond, which allocates money toward the establishment of satellite campuses in the east and west Coachella Valley.
HGA is completing the master plan and programming phases and will begin schematic design for phase one, which will begin construction in 2012. Phase one completion is scheduled for September 2014.
Project Team
The project team includes HGA Architects and Engineers, architect of record, lead project designer, sustainable design lead, master planner and programmer; o2 Architecture, local architect; RGA Landscape Architects, landscape architect; Saiful/Bouquet, structural engineer; M-E Engineers, MEP engineer; MSA Consulting, civil engineer; Sundt Construction, construction manager; and EIS Professionals, bond management.
Sustainable Commitment
HGA has a long-standing commitment to promoting sustainable design through site sensitivity, resource efficiency, energy-saving technologies, and conscientious material use. The firm is winner of the national Environmental Stewardship Award from the Construction Specification Institute for the “Practice of Sustainable Design, Promoting Environmental Awareness in the Construction Industry, and Educating others in the Advantages of Sustainable Design.”
HGA also is working with the College of the Desert on the Career Technical Education Building, which includes new construction and renovation of an existing building on the Palm Desert campus. The project is targeted for LEED® Silver.
ABOUT HGA
HGA is an integrated architecture, engineering and planning firm that helps prepare its clients for the future. With offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, California; Minneapolis and Rochester, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Washington DC, the nationally recognized firm has developed expertise in the healthcare, corporate, arts, community, higher education, and science/technology industries since 1953. HGA’s culture for interdisciplinary collaboration, knowledge sharing and design investiga¬tion enables its clients to achieve success with responsive, innovative and sustainable design. Visit www.HGA.com or follow the firm on Facebook or Twitter.
