| ASSA ABLOY hardware for the openings throughout the building include Sargent exits, mortise locks and door closers |
Designed for net-zero energy efficiency, the Kohler Environmental Center (KEC) – a boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut – features CURRIES Hollow Metal doors as well as a range of other ASSA ABLOY hardware including exits, mortise locks and door closers.
Designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the KEC is a stunning 31,325 square foot, LEED Platinum certified facility that includes dormitory rooms, faculty apartments, common spaces, classrooms, laboratories, and a state-of-the-art research greenhouse.
The standout design elements include stone walls, cedar trim and fibre cement plank siding, creating a rustic aesthetic for the building that blends with the meadows, wetlands and fields of its surroundings. But it’s the more subtle aspects of the green design that make the KEC a highly efficient building.
The 14 students and faculty who live and work in the KEC for the duration of the academic year are able to monitor energy consumption in real time on the building’s dashboard, online, and on their smartphones. Divided into teams, they can then adjust their usage to bring their output down and their team’s energy-savings score up. While the students may be competitive, in this case, everybody wins.
Dave Goetzinger, marketing manager at CURRIES, explains: “Even the best seal on a building can be a lost opportunity if the door and frame don’t protect from heat transfer. The thermal break frame keeps that from happening.”
ASSA ABLOY hardware for the openings throughout the building include Sargent exits, mortise locks and door closers, McKinney hinges, Rockwood pulls and accessories and Pemko weather stripping. Also in place is a Medeco X4 key system.