Kohler Ronan, LLC Consulting Engineers - Postcard: Choate Rosemary Hall Auditorium

CT Green Building Council 2021 Institutional Merit Award Winner

Choate Rosemary Hall Ann and George Colony Hall Wallingford, CT

Since its opening, the new, 51,761 square-foot auditorium and related music room facility has been much appreciated and frequently used by both students and faculty of Choate Rosemary Hall. The geometry of the building as well as its sculptural quality are in keeping with the adjacent Paul Mellon Arts Center (PMAC), completed in 1972 and designed by I.M. Pei. Colony Hall features a 1,070-person auditorium which supports the numerous and varied program needs of the school. A 100-person recital hall offers both rehearsal and performance areas while additional spaces accommodate practice rooms, classrooms, a percussion studio, and a green room. A dance studio is located on the upper floor and overlooks the school’s expansive Great Lawn. At the forefront of the building’s design were acoustical isolation and flexibility in almost every space.

Regarding building systems, the facility is all-electric, consuming no fossil fuels on site. Extensive energy and computational fluid dynamic analysis were performed to optimize energy, acoustical performance, and thermal comfort. Kohler Ronan’s designs called for heating and cooling to be provided via a closed-loop geothermal well field and a series of waterto-water heat pumps. Energy recovery and demand control ventilation systems were integrated into all of the main air handling units and a 40kW-PV array was installed on the roof of the building to provide renewable energy. With an EUI of 19 kBtu/sf/year, the building achieved a 48% energy reduction compared to ASHRAE 90.1-2007. The building is LEED Gold certified.

Architect: Robert HolzmanA.M. Moss Stern Bottino Architects Architecture Photography: © Peter Aaron/OTTO for Robert A.M. Stern Architects

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