Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

A sustainable Student Recreation Center, fit for environmentally conscious students

Sustainability is important to Cal Poly SLO students and faculty. Many see the huge campus as a self-contained city, with plenty of opportunities to adopt sustainable practices throughout its 9,678 acres. With that mentality, 89% of students voted for the design of the then, upcoming expanded student recreation center to be based on tenets of environmental consciousness and to seek LEED certification. Energy efficiency would be a prime concern throughout the project, and P2S made sure to address that concern. The building was certified LEED Gold by the US Green Building Council.

Part renovation, part expansion, the new $72 million student recreation building features a wide variety of spaces including gym, multipurpose room, lap pool, administrative offices, and grassy areas for outdoor activities. Due to the types of spaces involved, the facility required higher than normal air changes per hour to maintain occupant comfort levels. We came up with some innovative solutions to solve the issue, designing an efficient HVAC system that uses indirect/direct evaporative cooling (IDEC) to ensure a consistently comfortable indoor temperature. That design won a CHESC award for best HVAC Design/Retrofit.