Amherst College Science Center – exterior courtyard / rendering by Payette
Amherst, MA – Acentech has been selected to provide consulting services for four new residence halls and a 240,000sf science center on the campus of Amherst College. Acentech is collaborating with Kyu Sung Woo Architects for the Greenway Residence Halls and with Payette for the New Science Center.
“The eastern portion of our campus will be transformed by the addition of the new science center and residence hall cluster along the expansive landscape of the Greenway,” said Tom Davies, director of design and construction at Amherst College.
Designed by Kyu Sung Woo Architects, Amherst College is building four new residence halls that will house 300 students in a total of 110,000sf. Acentech is providing acoustics and audiovisual systems consulting services for the project. Expected to open for fall 2016, each residence hall will connect to each other via above-ground bridge lounges and feature a combination of single rooms, double rooms, and four-person suites.
Amherst College Science Center – commons / rendering by Payette
The Greenway residential complex will include community gathering spaces and entertainment rooms, a demonstration kitchen suitable for cooking classes, and a yoga, exercise, and meditation space. The common outdoor space shared by the buildings will include a courtyard, barbecue grills, and recreational space suitable for intramural sports.
Acentech’s consultants are designing audiovisual systems for the common areas of the residential buildings. They are focusing on sound isolation between rooms and other spaces within the building, and providing guidance on room finishes for lobbies and public areas to offer adequate noise control and reduce noise buildup.
The firm is also recommending criteria and guidelines for control of noise and vibration from mechanical systems, including noise into spaces within the building and noise transfer to the surrounding campus neighborhood and community.
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Amherst College’s 240,000sf New Science Center, designed by Payette, will support advanced teaching and research with extensive laboratory and classroom spaces as well as related academic offices. Scheduled for completion in 2018, the Center will house the undergraduate science departments, including biology, chemistry, computer science, physics and astronomy, psychology and neuroscience. Acentech’s acoustics and audiovisual consultants began consulting on the project at the beginning of the design phase. During the conceptual design study, Acentech’s vibration consultants took measurements to predict the effect of nearby trains on sensitive spaces and equipment expected to be located within the center. Acentech provided the design team with recommendations for isolating these sensitive spaces appropriately. The New Science Center features a variety of spaces that require intelligent, scalable audiovisual systems used in support of modern collaborative teaching models. Acentech’s audiovisual systems consultants are focusing on spaces that require visual information display, audio/video collaboration, speech reinforcement, soundtrack playback, and assistive listening, including the atrium, teaching labs, group study rooms, lecture halls, and classrooms. Collaborating with Payette, Acentech is providing acoustics recommendations for spaces throughout the building, including teaching and research laboratories, classrooms, lecture halls, faculty offices, informal learning spaces, and general gathering spaces. Mechanical system noise and vibration control in the laboratories and vivarium are a special focus of the design, as these spaces have more stringent requirements that require specific attenuation treatments.
