St. Louis Community College’s Harrison Education Center (HEC) was designed under LEED NC v2.1 in hopes of achieving a LEED Gold certification. Its site is a collection of several vacant lots in an inner city residential neighborhood in north central St. Louis City that was until recently in decline. Due to the site’s central location, proximity to the city’s historical performing arts district and local reinvestment over the past few years, the area has experienced significant redevelopment. Because of these reasons, the St. Louis Community College system selected this site for its newest and most-sustainable satellite campus. The Harrison Education Center at 3140 Cass Avenue officially opened to the public on August 14, 2010.

The new 30,265-square-foot facility will serve 400 to 500 credit students and 4,500 continuing education students in the areas of environmental worker training, art, general science, small business entrepreneurship, automated office skills, healthcare and the culinary arts.

The two-story building includes an art studio, general science lab, multipurpose community room, computer labs, classrooms, bookstore, commons area, outreach center and administrative offices. The facility also features a public entrance facing the corner of the site, emphasized by a transparent elevator tower; high-tech audio-visual equipment throughout; a large, central atrium; and open seating areas on the second floor overlooking the atrium.

Due to its urban location, the Harrison Education Center was able to qualify for several Sustainable Site credits specifically designed to encourage urban redevelopment including SS Credit  1 - Site Selection; SS Credit  2 – Development Density; SS Credit  3 – Brownfield Redevelopment; and SS Credit  4.1 – Alternative Transportation, Public Transportation Access.

In addition, the HEC also qualifies for all other non-site-specific Sustainable Site credits. To meet the Material and Resources credits, KAI Design & Build, which provided project management; programming; architecture; mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering; interior design and cost estimating services on the project, was careful not only to select and use local and regional materials and finishes but also ones with high recycled content such as carpeting and ceiling tiles.  Additionally, all casework utilizing particleboard, a recycled wood byproduct, is formaldehyde-free as are all of the FSC-certified interior wood doors.

In keeping with LEED requirements for indoor environmental quality, KAI specified low-VOC paints and adhesives for use throughout the building.  For interior comfort and energy reduction, the owner asked KAI to provide for as much daylighting as possible.  Both goals were achieved by locating all student classrooms and faculty offices off a single central corridor allowing each space to be located along an exterior wall, which provides daylighting and views. Additionally, a student common area is located at one the end of corridor that allows students to enjoy views to the exterior while between classes.

Per owner requirements, contractors were required not only to meet the requirements of the Material and Resources Credits 2.2- Construction Waste Management, 4.2 - Recycled Content and 5.1 – Local/Regional Materials but also were encouraged to exceed them so that they might qualify for the Innovative & Design Process Credits 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3. Additionally, ID Credit 1.4 Innovation in Design – Education Outreach was achieved by providing an interactive kiosk just inside the main entry outlining sustainable design, LEED and the key sustainable features of the building. 

In order to achieve Gold certification in the design phase for Harrison Education Center, a significant quantity of LEED points were assigned to the mechanical discipline.  These included the following categories:

• Water Efficiency
WE Credit 3.1 (Water use reduction 20) percent
WE Credit 3.2 (Water use reduction 30 percent)

• Energy & Atmosphere
  EA Credit 1.0 (Optimize energy performance)
  EA Credit 3.0 (Additional commissioning)
  EA Credit 4.0 (Ozone depletion)
  EA Credit 5.0 (Measurement and verification)

• Indoor Environmental Quality
  EQ 1.0 (Carbon dioxide monitoring)
  EQ 2.0 (Increased ventilation effectiveness)
  EQ 5.0 (Indoor thermal and pollutant source control)
  EQ 6.1, 6.2 (Controllability of systems)
  EQ 7.1, 7.2 (Thermal comforts comply with ASHRAE 55-1992 and permanent monitoring system)

To the credit of the team, a total of 17 points were achieved in these categories. To achieve these under the mechanical categories, it was important during the design stage to specify the best-suited type of equipment with the highest efficiencies to achieve the required points. KAI took extra consideration in selecting the special low-flow fixtures for sinks, urinals and water closets to achieve the water-efficiency credits. Initially KAI started with a 30 percent reduction; however, designers were able to achieve 40 percent reduction under this category.

Under the Energy & Atmosphere category careful consideration was given to optimize energy performance over and above the base model to achieve a 35 percent reduction in energy usage by specifying variable refrigerant flow, or VRF, equipment that achieved higher efficiency than typical constant volume systems. In addition, the type of refrigerant used and metering the usage of energy added to the credits.

Under the category of Indoor Environmental Quality, LEED points were achieved by providing MERV 13 filtration in all air handlers and thermostatic control for every other office space. The thermal comfort compliance and monitoring were achieved by providing meters to verify the actual readings.

When it came to the facility’s electrical system, the electrical design team had to be very aware of all costs associated with the electrical work to ensure that all items required for LEED compliance could be included in the project without exceeding the portion of the budget allotted for the electrical work. 

KAI Design and Build achieved this through the use of dual-technology-type occupancy sensors installed throughout the majority of the facility. Low-voltage relay panels provide the master control of all the interior lighting. Line voltage switches provide the manual-override control of the ceiling-mounted occupancy sensors, and low-voltage switches provide manual-override control of the relays in the relay panel. The power distribution system was designed to include panel boards dedicated to serve only lighting and HVAC loads. Submeters were installed on these panels to monitor the amount of energy consumed only by lighting and HVAC loads.

The lighting fixtures are equipped with energy-efficient lamps and ballasts installed to provide adequate illumination levels while complying with the allowable watts per square foot values required by the applicable energy codes.

The new Harrison Education Center with its sustainable design allows St. Louis Community College to reach more individuals in an underserved area of the city and demonstrate to the city and its students the college’s leadership in conservation and sustainability – a lesson worth learning by everyone. 

Project Team

Owner: St. Louis Community College

Architects: KAI Design & Build

Interior Design:  KIA Design & Build

MEP Engineer:  KAI Design & Build

Civil Engineering:  Grimes Consulting Inc

Structural Engineer:  Alper Audi Inc

Landscaping:  Austin Tao & Associates

Telecom and Design:  William Tao & Associates

LEED Certification Assistance & Systems Commissioning:  William Tao & Associates

Environmental and Geotechnical:  Shannon & Wilson

Construction Manager:  Kwame Building Group

General Contractors: Simms Building Group; C. Rallo Contracting; Wachter Construction Inc.;

Birkel Electric



Donald A. Koppy is vice president and director of architecture at KAI Design & Build.