Oberlin College in Ohio has ushered in a new era of sustainability. The Peter B. Lewis Gateway Center and Hotel anchors a 13-acre, sustainable mixed-use development that Oberlin is calling its Green Arts District.

The $27-million, four-story,  104,000-sq-ft Gateway Center houses the college’s admissions department, other offices, a flexible learning space called the OC Studio, a restaurant/bar, basement-level night club and 11,000 sq ft of ground-level retail. The project’s 70-room hotel and conference center is one of only five hotels in the country to receive LEED-Platinum certification. 

The project integrates new and established systems such as displacement ventilation, dedicated outside air and heat recovery. A geothermal pump cools and heats water for the entire facility. There are also radiant heat panels in the hotel rooms, dining area and offices. A radiant floor in the hotel’s lobby and a boiler and cooling tower provide supplemental heating and cooling during prolonged periods of excessively hot or cold temperatures.

The building’s electrical system includes distribution panels and transformers that report energy usage to the building automation system, which controls all systems such as drapes, windows and active sunshades. All systems are automated and change based on variables such as time, day, sun angle and wind speed.  It will be a net-zero energy building when connected to Oberlin’s planned solar array.

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