Vermont Public Radio
Colchester, Vermont –
Engineering Services of Vermont worked as part of the Design Team led by Wiemann Lamphere Architects to construct an approximately 14,500 square foot addition to the existing VPR 10,000 square foot office building in Colchester, Vermont. This project was an Efficiency Vermont “Net-Zero Pilot Project”. The design of the building was focused on the usability and comfort of the building for the occupants while keeping energy use to a minimum. The energy use of the building is expected to be balanced with the rooftop PV solar collection system to ultimately make the buildings energy use “Net-Zero”. Web based controls and monitoring systems have been installed to allow for proving out of the design and to allow fine-tuning of systems to keep the building on the Net-Zero track. Air-to-air heat pump systems were applied throughout the building to provide heating and cooling and heat recovery units monitoring carbon dioxide levels to provide demand control ventilation of the systems. Lighting is LED light source, throughout, utilizing occupancy sensors and daylight sensors with web-based lighting controls in the performance studio.
The facility is served with two generators utilizing differing fuels to allow the radio station continuous operation in the event of failure of normal utility power. The broadcast and recording studios as well as the performance studio posed challenges for mechanical and lighting systems. The performance studio is a key component to the building but is structurally separated for sound/noise purposes. Similarly, the design of the mechanical systems had to take into consideration mechanical vibrations and noise from air movement and design systems to eliminate or restrict the noise. Lighting design had to take into consideration the electronic noise that is created by the LED lighting that might be picked up during recordings; luminaires were carefully selected to provide minimal electronic noise and harmonic distortion. Neagley and Chase provided Construction Management services for the project.
RESOURCES
www.wiemannlamphere.com
www.efficiencyvermont.com
www.neagleychase.com