The $30 million Ford Motor Co. Engineering Design Center, an academic facility on the Northwestern University campus in Evanston, is being built in part to provide a space where students can learn an interdisciplinary approach to engineering design.

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Jay Baehr, senior project manager in NU's Department of Facilities Management Design & Construction, said that the project incorporated elements that include advanced engineering, visual transparency and flexibility.

"The design requirement was to present a forward-looking image of engineering design," he added.

Detroit's Ford Motor Co. made a $10 million project donation because the carmaker likes the school's approach to engineering design education.

20 Percent Energy Savings?

Sustainable design concepts were incorporated in the building in part because "green" engineering is hot.

The goal is to use 20 percent less energy in the EDC due to its design vs. a similar structure with conventional approach, Baehr said.

"Significant" energy savings and flexibility will be realized because ventilation is provided via the building's raised-floor air-distribution system, said Dan

Harmon, project manager for Turner Construction Co. in Chicago, the general contractor.

Less energy is needed to heat or cool space that is ventilated from below because people occupy and activities occur on a floor's lower half.

"If you're cooling or heating from the top, you're cooling or heating a bunch of air that is useless," Harmon added.

A minimal amount of duct is used; instead, about 15 air columns, or voids, supply the pressurized air, Harmon said.

Air from rooms is sucked through ceiling transfer grills and into an air column where it is mixed with fresh air drawn from traditional duct connected to air-handling units on the penthouse.

Fans blow the air down the air columns that are sealed against each floor, and the air is tempered. About four to five air-conditioning units per floor provide cooling.

Openings in the air column allow the tempered air into the 1-ft.-high raised floors where diffusers permit the flow into rooms.

"Each office has three or four diffusers, which look like salad spinners,"
Harmon said. "People can open or close [a diffuser] if they're too hot or too cold."

Besides the energy savings, another advantage is flexibility.

A diffuser can be added or eliminated with minimal work because the entire raised floor is pressurized. This permits floor layouts to be modified as the use of a space changes and new needs in air distribution, power and data are required.

In addition, maintenance is simplified because there are no dropped ceilings.

Harmon added that the basement is ventilated traditionally because it does not have a raised floor.

The building has other systems for energy efficiency.

Transparency will be attained by a substantial amount of glass, including the curtain wall framing the facades and a glass-walled atrium with skylights.

Indeed, daylight will be provided throughout the building via visually interconnected floors. Even the first basement level will get light via stepped planters on the building's west facade.

All that glazing would normally allow heat or cold to penetrate.

A motorized shade system that is programmable based on latitude and longitude will be installed to block excessive light penetration, Harmon said.

"It senses where the sun is and adjusts your office's shades to prevent solar penetration past a certain level you can set," he added.

Low-emissivity glazing will have special metallic or oxide coatings to permit light to enter and provide thermal insulation. And sensors to be installed throughout the facility will detect lighting and dim or raise lamps so that illumination is constant.

Other sustainable elements include minimizing the building's impact on the surrounding environment, reducing water usage and maximizing the use of recyclable or renewable materials.

An aim is to have the building receive Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in Washington, D.C. LEED is a voluntary, national standard for developing high-performance buildings.

Green engineering is popular in the Chicago area with the success of projects such as the Chicago Center for Green Technology on Sacramento Boulevard, a building that received LEED's platinum certification, the highest. Also, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is pushing for the use of sustainable concepts in building design.

Change of Venue

The EDC will offer a change for engineering students and faculty.

Several functions planned for the building are currently housed in three off-campus buildings that the university rents, Baehr said.

"There was a desire to bring them on campus," he added.

Moreover, the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science is expanding its curriculum in engineering design.

Each of NU's 13 engineering departments will have use of the EDC for instructional space in engineering design. In addition, the building will house the Department of Computer Science.

Facilities in the 75,000-sq.-ft. building include laboratories for CAD/CAM design, biomedical and chemical engineering and mechatronics, prototyping and design workshops, and an automotive testing section. Other spaces will be used for project display, instruction and study, auditorium and offices.

Special curriculum will be taught in the building, including a required freshmen course co-taught with the School of Communication that seeks to improve student engineers' verbal and written skills.

The concrete-framed building with five levels above grade and two below is expected to be complete in May.

Handling Sitework