Metropolitan State University of Denver
Denver, Colorado
The new Student Success Building serves as the first building in the new Metro State “neighborhood” on the Auraria Higher Education Campus for use solely by Metro State students and faculty. (Metro State shares the Auraria campus with two other colleges, the University of Colorado Denver and Community College of Denver.) The approximately 145,000 SF facility provides highly functional spaces for classrooms, offices, critical support services, the Office of the President, and special programs and departments.
Metro State is committed to lowering carbon emissions related to campus operations and is, therefore, required the building to be highly sustainable. As the project’s mechanical/electrical design engineer, The RMH Group delivered high-performance building systems including efficient heating and cooling system, low-water-use fixtures, and reliable building power.
The HVAC system features underfloor air distribution (UFAD) utilizing indirect/direct evaporative cooling units with integrated heat recovery. This type of distribution and cooling system provides unsurpassed air quality and health benefits, and stratified heat produced by UFAD is designed to reduce building heating energy use. Low-flow water fixtures were specified to minimize water use, and energy-efficient instantaneous electric hot water heaters are used to supply domestic hot water.
Certifications
Certified LEED-NC Gold