Project description
The Colorado School of Mines Green Center Roof Replacement, Auditorium Reconfiguration, and Controls Upgrades project involved a 44,000-square-foot renovation that refreshed the 1,000-seat auditorium, upgraded building controls, and modernized heating water systems throughout the facility. The work included extensive second-floor renovations to create new classrooms, computer labs, and office spaces, along with controls upgrades on several existing air-handling units.
As part of the mechanical improvements, the project provided six new custom air-handling units and upgraded or refurbished two existing units. A new heating water system and domestic water heater were also installed to serve the entire building.
A notable challenge was that the building had remained largely untouched since its original 1972 construction due to widespread asbestos-containing materials within the ceiling spaces. As a result, the existing pneumatic control system had seen minimal upgrades for nearly 50 years.
Cator, Ruma & Associates modernized the building automation system by installing a new direct digital control (DDC) head-end, enabling full DDC integration for all new equipment. Two existing air-handling units were also converted to DDC through the replacement of control valves, sensors, airflow-measuring stations, and damper actuators, along with updated sequences of operation to support the new components.
The updated automation system significantly improves the owner’s ability to monitor and control building systems, and provisions were included to support future conversion of the remaining pneumatically controlled equipment to DDC.
Guiding Principles for the Design
- Campus Harmony
- Sustainable Systems
- Student-Centered Design
- Auditorium Revitalization
- Academic Modernization
- Community Connection
- Safety and Security
- Improved System Monitoring