W. Bolick Advanced Technology + Student Success Center
Virginia Community College System — Piedmont Virginia Community College
Woodrow
“The Woodrow W. Bolick Advanced Technology and Student Success Center represents our bold commitment to student success and the communities we serve. Today’s students—and those who attend PVCC in the future—will have access to quality programs and superior support services that lead to highly skilled jobs in high demand sectors.
— Dr. Jean Runyon President of PVCC
Project Overview
As a vibrant hub for academic life, PVCC’s new educational facility includes advanced manufacturing and robotics labs, cyber-security and forensics labs, instructional spaces, administrative offices, a café, student group spaces, and improved outdoor public spaces.
Slated for completion by summer of 2024, this milestone will make the Center the first higher education facility in Virginia and one of just a handful of community college facilities in the United States to achieve net zero energy. In joining the race to net zero, the Center provides a compelling example of how Virginia is taking steps to attain 100% clean energy by 2050, as outlined in Governor Northam’s 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act. The ATSSC creates a campus destination that takes into account the unique and diverse needs of today’s community college student while also inspiring a sense of community and connection. As a first step in fulfilling the vision of a central pedestrian campus landscape, the building will serve as a new visual landmark from I-64 that showcases PVCC’s comprehensive commitment to workforce training and career development for the region.
The Site
There is really no “there” on campus right now. VMDO’s work with PVCC was focused on creating a building that took the next step towards fulfilling the master plan promise of a quad + a future pedestrian spine.
The first design work was the verification of the site indicated in a pre-existing master plan. Originally the proposed building site was south of where the selected site ended up being. From the standpoint of synergies with existing programs and how students use the existing main building, shifting the building to the north was the best choice. It helped create a gateway into the campus that didn’t previously exist, and it presented an opportunity to create a prominent position that is visible from Interstate-64.
The remaining design question was then, how will this building contribute to the proposed master plan development of a central pedestrian spine on the campus? This was a difficult question to answer. There was no ability to directly connect the building to the growing quad due to construction and financial challenges. To solve them, the building had to move westward and then connect to the quad via three foot bridges.
The Quad + Future Pedestrian Spine
“Quads are the heartbeat of campus, a central gathering space usually anchored by an institution’s major buildings. They also contribute a major part of the character and identity of a campus and university.”
— Brent Wittmeir University Affairs, 2021
The design also allows for the future development of a perimeter connector road that will swing along the outside of the ATSSC’s parking lot and loop to the Keats Science Building and V. Earl Dickinson Building. Preliminary design approvals were in 2020, with a four month net-zero energy redesign taking construction documents into 2021. The project is currently under construction with an estimated completion date of summer 2024.
FuturePedestrianSpine
Car Traffic Moves totheOutsideofCampus
Spatial Variety
The combination of programs was a result of necessity. They needed and wanted a student center and then they also had a need for technical training as a result of some of the legislation about supporting workforce training.
The two-story north bar of the building houses the academic / advising wing, which includes the Advanced Technical Training Department on Level One and a one-stop On-Boarding Center on Level Two. Advanced manufacturing and robotics spaces, instructional spaces, and study areas benefit from direct connection to a proposed work terrace via a pair of large overhead garage doors. These doors also enable the labs to receive deliveries of equipment, instrumentation, and materials that their curricula depend on. The On-Boarding Center provides everything a new student needs to begin her journey at PVCC and is organized into suites of rooms that integrate related personnel and functions around common resources and shared circulation.
Interconnected Volumes
The building is composed of three interconnected volumes: the pavilion, the portal, and the academic / advising wing. The pavilion houses a large multipurpose event space, café, student lounge spaces, student organization offices, and quiet study spaces.
Given the public nature of the pavilion, emphasis has been placed on transparency between the various spaces and between interior spaces and the campus and landscape beyond. The exterior of the pavilion is a collage of both solid and visually transparent assemblies that react to views, solar orientation, and adjacent landscape spaces that support the various programs within.
The portal serves as the primary vertical circulation space for the building and campus, and provides clear visual wayfinding landmarks to aid navigation to the various parts of the building.
A two-story cylindrical tower acts as a focal point within the space and houses a number of front-line support specialists that will guide new and enrolled students to their destinations –both within the building and beyond. The east and west walls of the portal are designed to be nearly-transparent exterior planes of curtain-wall to promote visibility through the building.
“As residents of Central Virginia, we live in a thriving community. As we look back to the last half century, it’s hard to imagine a greater accomplishment than the growth and success of PVCC. Since opening our doors, residents turn to PVCC to transform their lives.
As we look ahead, we’re focused on elevating our college to a new level of excellence. As we expand the Workforce Development programs, we’ll raise the skill levels and increase job prsospects for individuals in our community that will lead them to financial security.
— Harry Stillerman VP for Institutional Advancement & Development
Regional Training for the Clean Energy Economy
Designed to elevate PVCC’s comprehensive commitment to workforce training and career development, the Advanced Technical Training Center will lead the way in training a new generation of students for the clean energy economy.
The Center will create a campus destination that meets the unique and diverse needs of today’s community college student while also inspiring a sense of community and connection. The building includes advanced manufacturing and robotics labs, cyber-security and forensics labs, and active instructional spaces. In addition, the Center will create a hub for admissions, advising, and career services as well as a welcoming, student-centered commons with a café, student group spaces, a veterans’ resource center, and a large event room with improved outdoor public spaces for multi-use programming.
Floor Plans
On one side of the building, there’s a technical training center on the lower level and student support programs on the second floor. The building has two upper levels for a cafe and student activities and a lower level with big flexible rooms for meetings and events that are separated from the rest of the building so that it is functional during expanded hours.
Level 1
• Two Active Classrooms
• Wood Shop
• Machine Lab
• Electronics Lab
• Cyber Security Lab
• Computer Forensics Lab
• 3D Printing Lab
• Welding Lab
• Lower Lobby
• Event | Conference Space with Catering Support Area
Level 1 Floor Plan
Level 2
• Student Services
• Career Services
• Advising Suite
• Financial Aid
• Conference Room
• Registration Lab
• Advising Resource Area
• Integrated Service Hub
• Gallery Lounge
• Group Study
• Student Commons
• Café
• Dining
• South Commons
• Upper Level Lobby | Commons
Level 3
• Solar Panels
• SGA | Meeting Rooms
• Student Organizations
• Director of Student Activities
• Forum | Student Publications
• Veterans Resources
• Student Commons | Games + Rec
• Flex Space
Building Sustainability on Campus
VMDO has designed several net zero energy buildings including, notably, the first LEED Zero school in the world (Discovery Elementary School), what is expected to be the largest net zero energy building in the U.S. (Alice West Fleet Elementary School), and what is expected to be the first net zero energy community center in Washington, DC (Stead Park Recreation Center).
According to the National Buildings Institute’s annual Getting to Zero report, net zero energy schools and municipal buildings have been increasing in number across the country, yet higher education facilities have tended to lag in comparison. The Woodrow W. Bolick Advanced Technology + Student Success Center is helping to set the bar for building sustainability in higher education while implementing pragmatic clean energy solutions that double as teaching tools for students.
Drawing from a menu of energy saving measures, the final building design archives an EUI of 37.6 -- a 68% energy reduction compared to other buildings of its type before renewables. With the energy saving measures, like the improved thermal performance of the exterior wall, a 20% window/wall ratio, and a ground source heat pump, the building needed a far reduced PV array in order to be self sustaining.
Along with the energy saving measures, the additional funding to make the building net-zero presented new opportunities to increase quality, natural daylight throughout the building. Solar tubes were added to bring in light to an internal corridor with clerestory connection to offices, clerestory windows were added to daylight classrooms built into the hillside, and exterior fins and building integrated PVs were added to shade storefront windows and reduce glare in public spaces.
Sustainable Design
In 2021-2022, the conversation around climate action shifted from a focus on net zero performance to total carbon.
As a metric, total carbon combines operational carbon over a set duration, embodied carbon from construction materials and processes, and carbon sequestered by landscapes and biobased materials over time. This project shows the complexities of mapping total carbon as a zero-energy community college building on a large parcel of land. Using EHDD’s EPIC Tool, the scenario for reducing total carbon, and possibly making it climate positive, is illustrated below.
PVCC: As Built
PVCC: Wood frame (not CLT) construction, everything else the same.
