Harold Clark Simmons Hall

Architect: Perkins + Will
Contractor: Vaughn Construction
LEED Consultant: The Beck Group

Completion: December 2015
Size: 38,955 SF
Regular Occupancy: 42 FTE (faculty); 408 students daily
Use: Academic building

Project Description:

Harold Clark Simmons Hall is a School of Education classroom, event space, faculty office and Teaching lab building. The building is three levels with a fourth level in the roof structure for mechanical systems.

Project Highlights:

• Outdoor space makes up 68% of the project site, promoting outdoor gathering for student activities and social events. Garden planting areas have a variety of native plantings, including trees, shrubs, ornamental grasses, groundcover, and perennials that provide year-round visual interest.
• Careful consideration was given by the design team to ensure that all regularly occupied spaces have natural daylight in the space. Over 75% of all regularly occupied spaces have daylighting and 90% have views to the outdoors.
• The proposed design achieves 97,469 kWh electricity savings when compared to baseline, 69 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent. This is the same as greenhouse gas emissions from 177,076 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle or the carbon sequestered by 82 acres of U.S. forests in one year.
• SMU has continued to show their commitment to clean energy by purchasing 70% of the predicted energy use of their building’s energy from renewable energy sources.
• The design team carefully selected efficient plumbing fixtures that reduced indoor water consumption by 41.65% or 92,610 gallons annually when compared to baseline. Water efficient fixtures include toilets, urinals, and low-flow faucets in restrooms. Drought resistant grasses and native vegetation combined with drip irrigation systems reduced outdoor water consumption by 76%.
• 94% of all construction waste was diverted from the landfill. The net emissions reduction from recycling 2,641 tons compared with a baseline in which the materials are landfilled is 7,635 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent.
• SMU’s environmental stewardship extends to responsible sourcing of materials. 24% of the materials selected for the project include products with recycled content, 31% of those were products which were locally or regionally manufactured.
• Indoor air quality was assured with the implementation of the Indoor Air Quality Management Plan during construction and installation of products with Low Volatile Organic Compound content levels, as well as formaldehyde – free composite wood products.