Transforming Gilman Hall: Noticeable Improvement
With its dramatic glass-topped atrium, shiny copper cupola, new flooring, and other interior and exterior improvements, the renovated Gilman Hall will surely dazzle.
What you won’t see will have quite the impact, too.
When it reopens next year, gone will be the clanging radiators, dimly lit hallways,and wild temperature swings. The renovated Glman will be retrofitted with new lighting and mechanical systems to create a significantly more pleasant place to work and study.
Carolyn Hinger, Gilman project architect with Kliment Halsband Architects, says a lot of consideration went into how to bring Gilman squarely into the 21st century and be environmentally conscious, while at the same time respecting the building’s historic status.
All the planning stands to make Gilman the first LEED-certified building on the university’s Homewood campus. As such, the mechanical systems, located in the newly excavated basement, will be both smart and major energy savers. They replace antiquated systems that included clanging radiators, obsolete temperature controls, and scattered overlays of various earlier mechanical systems.
The modern, high-efficiency HVAC systems will include heat recovery units, airside economizers (which save energy by using cool outside air as a means of cooling the indoor space), and all new ductwork. The building’s new high-performance windows will trap in cool air in the summer and heat in the winter.
Hinger says the new systems will maximize efficiency but provide plenty of oomph.
“We paid attention to the selection of the systems to ensure we were able to keep the ceiling heights high, especially in the historic portions of the building and perimeter areas,” Hinger says.
Gilman’s public spaces will be centrally climate-controlled. The perimeter offices will have controls allowing users to adjust fans or turn them off and open a window to let in a breeze.
For lighting, the building’s architects worked with a designer to emphasize consistency and efficiency. “The old Gilman had many inconsistencies,” Hinger says. “Some rooms were amply lit, but then you would have two lights in a long stretch of hallway. That is not enough. Conversely, over-lighting a space wastes energy, she says.
The Hutzler Undergraduate Reading Room will feature daylight controls so that when the room darkens, during cloudy weather or at nighttime, lights on dimmers will gradually come on. They automatically turn off when natural light floods the room. The fluorescent fixtures themselves will be replica pendant uplights that are consistent with the historic nature of the room.
Gilman’s offices will use sleek, lowly positioned fluorescent uplights that occupants won’t know are there until they turn them on. “They shine up on the ceiling to illuminate the entire space. They also give all the rooms a consistent look from the outside. You’ll see an attractive uniform glow at night,” Hinger says.
The offices will have occupancy sensors that automatically shut off the lights when the last person leaves.
The architects also wanted to bring in more natural light, which primarily will come from the new oversized windows that ring the atrium. To brighten the space even more, the new terrazzo floors will be a lighter shade than the original oatmeal-colored ones.
Hinger says all the designers wanted the new climate-control and lighting systems to compliment the architectural details, not overshadow them.
“We wanted to make all these systems as invisible as possible to maintain the historic character of the building,” she says. “I went down to the site just the other day, and you really appreciate the complexity of the work being done by the contractors and engineers. You can see the mish-mosh of wires and ductwork now, but ultimately it will be hidden behind walls.”
