Universities and Schools

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GOLDEY BEACOM COLLEGE

Campus Enhancement Project

In response to the significant increase in enrollment, Goldey Beacom College has embarked on a phased Campus Enhancement Project which includes new construction and renovations:

- William A. Franta Hall, a new five-story, 43,000 square foot building featuring a 150-bed residence hall with single and double rooms equipped with a host of amenities, slated for Fall 2020 completion.

- Jackson Hall & Miller Hall, renovations for these identical apartment-style student housing buildings include three floors and approximately 15,000 square feet per building.

- Joseph West Jones Center, a major expansion including a new 20,000 square foot addition and 36,000 square foot renovation to this campus hub, which houses the NCAA Division II Athletics Department. When complete in the fall of 2020, the building will feature updated meeting and community spaces, new dining facilities, new campus store, and expanded athletics department with additional locker rooms, training space and offices.

Blackney Hayes Architects is leading the design of all new construction and renovations and AEC is providing mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection engineering. Engineering features will include:

- High-efficiency central domestic water plant

- Domestic water booster pump and fire pump

- Dedicated outdoor air system to control building pressure and air quality

- Central laundry facilities

- Modern HVAC controls for dorm rooms, allowing interlocks with windows 

and remote temperature set-backs

ROWAN UNIVERSITY

6 New Multi-Use Buildings

AEC provided engineering for six multi-use buildings with Nexus Development and Blackney Hayes Architects. The buildings are part of The Rowan Boulevard Redevelopment project, one of the largest ongoing redevelopment initiatives in the State of New Jersey, linking Rowan’s campus with the Glassboro Downtown Retail District to create a “quintessential college town”. The new area promotes smart growth living with mixed-use buildings in a walkable community setting. 

AEC’s work included two six-story, one five-story, and three four-story buildings containing retail, fitness center, classrooms, offices, luxury apartments and student housing. AEC also provided engineering for site universities including electric, site lighting, gas, IT and a fire protection loop charged by one central fire pump.

230 and 114 Victoria Street

Two six-story multi-use buildings with apartment-style student housing situated above first floor retail space. Together, these buildings feature 171 apartments for approximately 860 students.

Park Place South, Park Place North and 223 West High

All three of these four-story, multi-use buildings feature either luxury apartments or student apartments, situated above core and shell retail space on the first floor. Combined, these buildings offer 57 luxury one and two-bedroom apartments as will as 33 student apartments. Unique amenities found in the luxury apartments include details such as French doors, patios with fire pits, outdoor balconies and outstanding views of new outdoor public spaces.

57 North Main

This five-story building offers 30 apartments for 138 students. The apartments start at street level and are designed with a high-efficiency domestic hot water plant and domestic booster pump system. The ideal location is just steps away from shops, restaurants and the Glassboro Town Square.

ROWAN UNIVERSITY 

College of Education / James Hall

This three-story 130,000 square foot building houses the Education Department and includes classrooms, faculty offices, conference rooms, lecture halls, study areas, and student lounge areas.  

The steel frame structure has its own central mechanical system utilizing campus steam and chilled water, and a complete VAV air distribution system with DDC controls.  Electrical systems include power distribution, a complete fire alarm system with new wet sprinklers, and state-of-the-art information technology systems.  

This building is a participant in the Connectiv “Smart Start” program, which promotes energy efficiency during building design.  Variable speed drives, high efficiency motors, lighting and lighting control systems have been used to meet some of the “Smart Start” requirements. 

VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY    |    LEED-SILVER CERTIFIED 

School of Nursing

Situated on the main campus on the site of VU’s former softball field, this 4-story 92,000 square foot building features a large atrium with an open staircase to all floors. Entrance and exit from the building are on different levels, with three stories in the front and four stories in the rear. The foundations and the steel package for the structural frame were fast tracked to jump start the construction and ensure that the building would be ready for August occupancy.

AEC had to relocate the main electrical and fiber optic services to the entire campus, which ran under the former softball field, to accommodate this new building. A new steam line was also added to accommodate the building’s central plant. Since groundwater was a significant site condition, AEC designed the foundations with underground slab drains to allow the continuous flow of the high level of underground water. The design includes underground detention, rain gardens, and rainwater irrigation.

AEC’s LEED certified engineers aided in the certification approval process by specifying the correct materials and submitting the necessary forms. The LEED award designation was Silver, upon completion of construction.

UNIVERSAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE 

Teaching Labs

Universal Technical Institute is a publicly traded company with corporate offices in Phoenix, Arizona. Their charter is to teach students the art of automobile, truck and boat repair. AEC provided structural, mechanical, electrical, and fire protection engineering for this multi-phase project.  

The project required the conversion of 200,000 square feet of existing warehouse and manufacturing space in Norwood, Massachusetts, to new automobile and truck teaching labs. An additional 60,000 square feet of existing office space was converted into classrooms and 40,000 square feet of new mezzanine space was created for classrooms. UTI corporate standards were used to create each technical lab space and 1,000 square feet of individual classroom space. Additional spaces were created for connecting corridors, bathrooms, vestibules, lobbies and administration offices.

AEC designed the sophisticated HVAC system with 40 large VFD roof top air handlers and VAV supply and return duct distribution systems to balance all the automobile and truck exhaust systems in each lab space. This included emergency evacuation systems set up on CO2 sensors. Likewise, all classrooms had individual VAV controls and room stats. All areas had sensors that controlled lighting requirements based on occupancy. The entire building was on a central building automation system that controlled each system allowing both the facility management department and corporate headquarters to adjust the building requirements for efficiency.