Project: Mitchell Hall at the University of New Mexico
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Building Type: Education
Type of Construction: Renovation
Primary Opening Type: Punched Openings
Material Type: Fiberglass
Product Type: Pella® Impervia® Fixed Frame Windows
Architect: The Hartman + Majewski Design Group (dba The Design Group)
Mitchell Hall is one of the oldest classroom buildings on the University of New Mexico's campus. Constructed in 1950, the two-story, Spanish-style concrete structure hadn't received a major remodel since it was built. As a result, Mitchell Hall was one of the most energy-inefficient buildings on campus — with 60 year-old single-pane steel-framed windows contributing to its high energy usage and uncomfortable interior environment.
The Design Group's mission was to reintroduce Mitchell Hall as a 21st century education facility that emphasizes student and faculty collaboration through improved technology, amenities, comfort and infrastructure operations. At the core of this mission was the desire for greater environmental sustainability, while preserving the historic integrity of the building. The project achieved a LEED® Silver rating. Along with a more efficient mechanical system and enhanced lighting control including usage sensors, fixed frame Pella Impervia fiberglass composite windows helped contribute to specific LEED points on the project.
Because Mitchell Hall was designed by an important regional architect and under consideration for historic registry, careful attention needed to be made with the replacement window choice. The original steel windows had narrow sightlines — they were stacked vertically with 1" widths in between glazings. The project team's plan was to replace them with aluminum windows. However, Pella was able to replicate this look with windows made from its patented five-layer Duracast® fiberglass composite material and Low-E insulating glass. Pella Impervia windows provided this project better thermal efficiency and durability than aluminum — and they provided a substantial cost savings over the aluminum windows originally specified. To preserve the historic character of the building, Pella provided fixed windows with applied muntins and sightlines that created an acceptable match to the original windows.
By renovating an existing building rather than building new, large quantities of resources were preserved and saved from the landfill. And an important piece of The University of New Mexico's history was preserved and given a strong future. Learn more about the installation details.
Learn more about Pella EFCO Commercial Solutions.
Related Stories
| Oct 13, 2010
HQ renovations aim for modern look
Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel Architects’ renovations to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s New York City headquarters will feature a reworked reception lobby with back-painted glass, silk-screened logos, and a video wall.
| Oct 13, 2010
New health center to focus on education and awareness
Construction is getting pumped up at the new Anschutz Health and Wellness Center at the University of Colorado, Denver. The four-story, 94,000-sf building will focus on healthy lifestyles and disease prevention.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community center under way in NYC seeks LEED Platinum
A curving, 550-foot-long glass arcade dubbed the “Wall of Light” is the standout architectural and sustainable feature of the Battery Park City Community Center, a 60,000-sf complex located in a two-tower residential Lower Manhattan complex. Hanrahan Meyers Architects designed the glass arcade to act as a passive energy system, bringing natural light into all interior spaces.
| Oct 13, 2010
Community college plans new campus building
Construction is moving along on Hudson County Community College’s North Hudson Campus Center in Union City, N.J. The seven-story, 92,000-sf building will be the first higher education facility in the city.
| Oct 13, 2010
County building aims for the sun, shade
The 187,032-sf East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, Calif., will be oriented to take advantage of daylighting, with exterior sunshades preventing unwanted heat gain and glare. The building is targeting LEED Silver. Strong horizontal massing helps both buildings better match their low-rise and residential neighbors.
| Oct 12, 2010
Holton Career and Resource Center, Durham, N.C.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. Early in the current decade, violence within the community of Northeast Central Durham, N.C., escalated to the point where school safety officers at Holton Junior High School feared for their own safety. The school eventually closed and the property sat vacant for five years.
| Oct 12, 2010
Richmond CenterStage, Richmond, Va.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Bronze Award. The Richmond CenterStage opened in 1928 in the Virginia capital as a grand movie palace named Loew’s Theatre. It was reinvented in 1983 as a performing arts center known as Carpenter Theatre and hobbled along until 2004, when the crumbling venue was mercifully shuttered.
| Oct 12, 2010
University of Toledo, Memorial Field House
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Memorial Field House, once the lovely Collegiate Gothic (ca. 1933) centerpiece (along with neighboring University Hall) of the University of Toledo campus, took its share of abuse after a new athletic arena made it redundant, in 1976. The ultimate insult occurred when the ROTC used it as a paintball venue.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cell and Genome Sciences Building, Farmington, Conn.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Administrators at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington didn’t think much of the 1970s building they planned to turn into the school’s Cell and Genome Sciences Building. It’s not that the former toxicology research facility was in such terrible shape, but the 117,800-sf structure had almost no windows and its interior was dark and chopped up.
| Oct 12, 2010
The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards — Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.
