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A Rhapsody in Reynobond®: Oberlin College's New Jazz Building Clad in Alcoa Architectural Aluminum PanelsNEW YORK --(Business Wire)-- The Bertram and Judith Kohl Building, a virtual rhapsody in Alcoa's Reynobond aluminum composite material (ACM), has applied to become the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certified music conservatory in the U.S. The Bertram and Judith Kohl Building at Oberlin College in Ohio is a virtual rhapsody in Alcoa's Reynobond(R) architectural aluminum panels. The new jazz building aims to be the first (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) LEED Gold certified music conservatory in the U.S. (Photo: Business Wire) The $24 million, three-story, 37,000-square-foot structure is the new home for the Jazz Studies Program at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is composed of three basic elements: an aluminum exterior, which wraps and encloses the programmatic elements; openings created by cutting and peeling away the aluminum composite material shell; and an abundance of daylight streaming into the building. "From the beginning, we planned to clad the exterior in aluminum," said Lead Project Designer Jonathan C. Kurtz, AIA, of architectural firm Westlake Reed Leskosky, Cleveland. "It was a natural choice as the City of Oberlin sits above one of the largest deposits of bauxite ore in the country. And it was here, in 1886, that Charles Martin Hall, an Oberlin alumni and one of the founders of Alcoa, developed the cost-efficient process for obtaining aluminum from aluminum oxide that brought aluminum into widespread use." Upon his success, Hall became a great benefactor to his alma mater. The Tappan Square property, on which the Kohl Building now stands, was just one of his generous gifts to the school. Alcoa ACM panels in a brushed aluminum finish were used for the exterior walls and an anodic clear finish of the Reynobond material was used for the soffits of the building. Color was used to tie the new conservatory building to the existing campus designed in the 1960s by noted architect, Minoru Yamaski. Constructed of pre-cast concrete with a finish that's almost opalescent, the Yamaski buildings appear to transform under different light. To mimic the dynamics of the surface, Alcoa worke with cladding manufacturer Riverside Group of Windsor, Canada, to develop a custom finish for the Alcoa panel that also appears to transform as the light changes. The panel is further accented by the use of Brazilian Ipé hardwood siding at the entrance to add material texture. The wood, harvested from a sustainable forest, will weather naturally to a silver color that ties it to the aluminum and creates a coherent vernacular for the campus. Sustainable Features Targeting LEED Gold Certification, Westlake Reed Leskosky designed the building with the highest standards for environmental stewardship and sustainability, as well as stringent acoustical and technology requirements. The architectural firm recently submitted documentation to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to attain LEED certification, an internationally recognized benchmark for design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. The Kohl Building is now undergoing a thorough assessment for certification. If successful, it will be the first LEED Gold certified music conservatory in the U.S. According to Kurtz, meeting LEED qualifications was interesting due to the unique requirements of a music building, which houses a large collection of Steinway pianos and other instruments, because of the need to maintain the right humidity levels for the instruments. Sustainable features include geothermal heating and cooling with radiant panels, energy-efficient systems and lighting, a green roof system and storm water run-off collection and filtration. Sustainably harvested materials were used throughout. The project was designed to achieve energy performance greater than 40% higher than the ASHRAE 90.1 baseline energy standard for buildings. Also important: the tight integration of acoustic, energy, comfort and air quality considerations, and a geothermal radiant system, which reduces the need for duct work in the walls, floors and ceilings that compromise acoustics. The Bertram and Judith Kohl Building houses a world-class recording studio; flexible rehearsal and performance spaces, teaching studios, practice rooms, a glass-enclosed social hub, an archive of the largest Jazz recording collection in the US, as well as, collections of rare instruments and jazz photographs from the 1950s.
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