Krach Leadership Center & Third Street Suites

Project Details

Project Description

FROM THE AIA INDIANA: 

A tenant of Purdue University’s New Synergies strategic plan is to embed academic life more deeply into the daily lives of students as one of many initiatives aimed at enhancing academic achievement and career success. Born from this effort was the concept for a mixed-use village around a new green at the heart of the campus. The programs included the new Krach Leadership Center and Third Street Suites, a 300-bed residence hall.

The Krach Leadership Center is a new type of academic building that provides space for student organizations to meet and collaborate, as well as a wide range of spaces in support of student life. Learning, discovery, and engagement are facilitated by the Center, which catalyzes interactions and relationships between faculty, staff, and students and inspires leadership on campus. The first floor of the Krach Center is conceived of as the Main Street of student life—a public space that provides the opportunity to meet, relax, and interact all hours of the day. The second floor provides more formalized, but flexible space for student organizations. The third floor hosts student organizations services such as Student Leadership Development, Boiler Volunteer Network, Student Activities and Organizations, and the Business Office for Student Organizations. The fourth floor houses the Student Access, Transition, and Success programs and the Academic Success Center. Tutoring rooms and satellite locations of existing academic help centers further support students.

The Third Street Suites residence hall furthers Purdue’s initiative of integrating student activities and residential life. To achieve these goals, the design team undertook an overall rethinking of residential quality, location, and the distribution of students on campus. The first floor of the new residence hall accommodates a number of common spaces, including a new café and retail operation along the main pedestrian spine on campus. A special classroom, dedicated to living and learning functions, is located at the heart of the first floor and equipped with state-of-the-art technology. On the upper floors, lounges and spaces for collaboration are located at key intersections to create zones for interaction, learning, and socialization.
The architectural palette of brick with limestone accents builds upon the existing campus vernacular. The new buildings frame a major new campus green, also designed by the submitting team, to support informal recreation and provide a center for outdoor community life in the district.

Both facilities are designed for optimum energy efficiency with a goal of achieving at least LEED Gold certification. Mechanical and Electrical systems were designed to comply with LEED prerequisites and credits. The building systems including lighting, heating, cooling, and envelope were designed to comply with ASHRAE 90.1-2007 standards as a base line minimum.  An Energy Model was performed using eQUEST 3.64 LEED approved software. Lighting was designed per IESNA standards utilizing a combination of direct, indirect, and direct/indirect fluorescent and LED fixtures while meeting energy efficiencies of LEED lighting power density goals.  Lighting is controlled using a combination of automatic occupancy sensors, networkable relay based controls, and dimming systems. Several large underground storage chambers beneath the open green space collect and retain storm water and control the infiltration release into the subsurface soil.  In-line water quality structures remove sediments upstream of the underground storage system.