UC Riverside Project Won 2 ENR Awards 2024
Destined for greatness, the UC Riverside School of Medicine Education Building II has won two ENR Awards in 2024: the Project Award of Merit in the Higher Education/ Research category and an Excellence in Sustainability Award of Merit. Focused on design and construction methods, the UC Riverside project amazed the judges with a fully functional design, resulting in long-term success for the students while minimizing the carbon footprint. The project team reviewed its location in Riverside and based the building’s design efforts on the surrounding environment. Taking special attention to the position of the building, and its drought prone area, the building is situated to receive natural ventilation and maximize the usage of shaded areas. The interiors and exteriors were built with sustainable materials with low/no VOC materials. A 200-kilowatt solar array was added onto the roof to generate its energy.
A.O. Reed worked hand-in-hand with the general contractor, architect, and engineer to achieve LEED Platinum status on this project. We recommended systems and equipment to increase sustainable solutions. For instance, we provided a heat recovery chiller that produces supplemental cooling as a by-product of the heating hot water system. Analyzing each system and collaborating with the project team was essential to gain this certification.
A.O. Reed was responsible for the mechanical scope of the project which again included a heat recovery chiller, associated pumps, VFDs, expansion tanks, air separators, air handling units, fan coil units, fans, and VAV boxes. Chilled water was tied into the existing campus loop, and all new HHW and CHW piping ran throughout the building. Since this was an active campus, our prefabrication services were utilized as there was limited spacing for storage and welding stations. We were able to make just-in-time deliveries to campus. An impressive part of the project included tying two air handlers together to bridge our ductwork on each floor. This would allow full redundancy, with one single air handling unit being able to serve the entire building, if necessary.
This 95,475 square-foot project built an educational building dedicated to the School of Medicine on UC Riverside’s active campus. The new building is located adjacent to the original School of Medicine building so that they can provide two functioning spaces. This structure hosts lecture halls, classrooms, study spaces, faculty offices, and other support spaces. The students and faculty will have premium spaces where innovation and education flourish. The school was particular about ceiling aesthetics, so the A.O. Reed team installed linear diffusers hidden within the wooden-slated ceilings, giving a fresh, clean look that followed its overall aesthetic.
This project is more than constructing a building on the UC Riverside campus. This space will allow 125 more students to join the UC Riverside School of Medicine. Contributing to this project enables more individuals to pursue their passion in medicine and healthcare. The project was completed in August 2023. We are proud to have won the ENR Project Award of Merit in the Higher Education/ Research category and an Excellence in Sustainability Award of Merit on this project.
