Education Center Serving Our Service Members

This renovation project at Fort Carson Army Base has two primary objectives: Reduce energy use, and better meet the needs of the Education Center users.

Constructed in 1956 as a barracks, the facility has since been converted to classroom and administrative spaces, including conference rooms and break rooms, serving over 100,000 students each year.

As a key subconsultant on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers IDIQ task order, Farnsworth Group provided mechanical designs to replace existing natural draft boilers and convective heating elements with new high-efficiency condensing boilers (750 MBH input, x2), packaged chiller (98 tons), energy recovery ventilators, and fan coil units. The new heating and chilled water plants will reject and absorb heat from one another through the use of water-to-water heat pumps, virtually eliminating the need for the operation of the chiller during all but the warmest days.

Farnsworth Group also designed new site utilities and improvements in support of the renovations to Building 1117. Included in the civil / site design was a new fire service line, concrete pavement for placement of HVAC equipment, and repaving of access drives to the building. Farnsworth Group coordinated with the Fort Carson Directorate of Public Works for existing site and utility infrastructure information to successfully complete the design for the site improvements.

With a project goal to be LEED-CI Silver certifiable, Farnsworth Group’s sustainability consultants guided design decisions such as use of all-LED lighting with vacancy sensors, a choice based upon life cycle cost analysis comparison to T8 and T5 dimmable fluorescents. Other design decisions included envelope improvements and natural ventilation. With the incorporation of these and other sustainable design elements, the Education Center will achieve the following:

• 22% energy reduction over the existing building
• 32% energy reduction over the calibrated baseline
• 41% energy savings over ASHRAE 90.1-2007