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Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) has seen accelerated growth over the last couple of decades, expanding to a campus of more than 15 buildings to accommodate its growing student body, currently sitting at nearly 12,000. Yet, despite this impressive evolution, GGC has never had a dedicated assembly building on campus — a space that could host campus-wide events or large student gatherings such as commencement ceremonies. After years of planning, GGC took on a capital project of infrastructure upgrades to set the college up for continued success well into the future, including the construction of its first-ever convocation center, the Gateway Building. 

The Gateway Building, designed by SSOE and Hughes Group Architects and constructed by Carroll Daniel Construction, fills a gap in campus life in more ways than one. Beyond providing an on-campus assembly space, the three-story, 72,280-square-foot multi-use community hub offers students and staff a program-rich venue catering to wellness, recreation, and food service, in addition to events. 

The building is also the first on campus to rely solely on a new centralized chilled water plant, which is a key piece of GGC's larger infrastructure upgrade project and supports the goal of providing reliable, more energy efficient cooling. RMF Engineering designed the plant, as well as the utility distribution, and was tasked with ensuring the Gateway Building's MEP systems could accommodate its multi-purpose functionality with equal efficiency. 

The Challenges of Energy Efficiency in Large, Multi-Use Facilities

Energy management is a critical challenge for sustainability and cost control for this building type. In large, multi-function facilities such as the Gateway Building, which amongst other spaces houses the convocation center/arena and a fitness and wellness center, the MEP systems must accommodate diverse activities with differing cooling, heating and ventilation needs. Because occupancy schedules can vary based on space type and usage, heating and cooling systems in multi-function facilities often run unnecessarily or inefficiently when certain areas are unoccupied or underutilized. For convocation centers or arenas in particular, HVAC systems must be able to adapt to ensure comfort during full capacity events while also avoiding energy waste when the space is at low occupancy or empty. This requires advanced HVAC systems capable of adjusting output based on real-time demand.

GATEWAY: The Gateway Building has multiple central variable air volume (VAV) systems with hydronic terminal reheat units. (Courtesy of Carroll Daniel Construction)

To ensure the Gateway Building stayed in line with GGC’s goals for the infrastructure upgrades, the RMF team needed to take these challenges into account, ultimately resulting in their approach to increase the building’s energy efficiency through proper HVAC design and control to ensure systems were only in use when necessary and operating at the right levels.  

Advanced Building Controls for Energy Efficiency

Applying a target valued design concept with the goal to produce a design that provides the best value for the owner, RMF analyzed the various program spaces and associated load demands and occupancy schedules and utilized whole-building energy simulation software to identify the optimal zoning and types of systems that would serve the facility most efficiently within the constraints of the project.

This analysis led the team to multiple central variable air volume (VAV) systems with hydronic terminal reheat units — a relatively common HVAC system but with the high-performance control the Gateway Building requires. Catering to the building’s multi-functions, this combination of equipment and automated controls gives the ability to operate specific parts of the building independently from one another. Separate areas can be opened or closed without the need to energize the full building. While the convocation center is in use, the fitness center on the second floor can be closed with its associated HVAC system de-energized or operated at a reduced setting, for example. 

INTEGRATED: RMF integrated central building controls that sense occupancy levels and automatically adjust HVAC accordingly. (Courtesy of RMF Engineering)

An additional challenge centered around the convocation center/arena specifically, a vast space with a variable occupancy range of up to 3,500 people. To further improve the energy efficiency of the building, it required dynamic systems that can support various loading scenarios and be capable of scaling from full to minimal load as needed. RMF examined the environmental conditions and integrated central building controls that sense occupancy levels and automatically adjust accordingly to maintain thermal comfort and good air quality, allowing for demand-controlled ventilation while maintaining thermal comfort. 

Additional strategies RMF and project partners took to enhance the energy efficiency and indoor air quality of the building included outside-air-based free cooling (economizer), scheduled equipment shutdowns, space temperature setbacks during vacant and unoccupied hours, optimum start/stop control sequences, hydronic and airflow supply temperature reset, active dehumidification, energy recovery for units with high outside air requirements, digital energy metering equipment to monitor and trend energy usage, and collaboration with the architectural team to maximize the efficiency of the building envelope. 

DYNAMIC: The Gateway Building is built with dynamic systems that can support various loading scenarios, scaling from full to minimal load as needed. (Courtesy of RMF Engineering)

Enhancing Efficiency for Large-Scale Events

Arenas and assembly spaces have substantial energy demands, emphasizing the importance of implementing energy-efficient practices and technologies to reduce consumption and environmental impact. The Gateway Building serves as a prime example of how engineering and building control technology are enhancing the arena experience to make large events more efficient and reduce their environmental impact.

Beyond the sustainability benefits, these advanced systems also help provide a better user experience. Particularly as it relates to athletic events, temperature control is important for athlete performance and safety, as well as spectator comfort. As an increasing number of higher education institutions push for new, more professional athletic facilities to attract prospective students, GGC and RMF's approach for the Gateway Building provides a blueprint for designing these buildings intelligently and efficiently.