Graduate Studies Center

Prestigious Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, needed more space for its growing graduate studies programs. CBSI produced an attractive facility that meets all the university's criteria — and CBSI did it in less than half the time originally budgeted by university planners.

YALE UNIVERSITY - PROSPECT PLACE
11,659-square-foot Temporary Modular Building

Architectural Excellence:

The first structure of its kind to be located at Yale University, the modular Graduate Studies facility was designed as a joint venture with Centerbrook Architects & Planners, LLC. The interior comprises state-of-the-art computer-enabled study and research areas, student lounges, professors' offices, classrooms, mail rooms, and administrative support areas.

The building footprint, 253'5" x 76'0", was designed as an inverted Y to fit the uniquely shaped piece of land allotted to it in downtown New Haven, Connecticut. Rather than blending with its ivy-clad brick and stucco neighbors, the sleek prototype building — showing an exterior decor of silver horizontal corrugated siding with a Kawneer® tinted window system — contrasts with and complements its surroundings.

The interior of the building extends Yale University's high level of architectural quality by blending the vibrant elegance of a soft pastel color scheme with solid-maple built-in cabinetry and random-patterned parabolic strip lighting.

Technical Innovations:

The challenge of gaining acceptance for modular construction on the Yale “Old Ivy” University campus was an unusual design and engineering adventure. The project was completed only after it was proven to address concerns on several levels, including faculty preferences and stringent local regulations.

Strict state and local codes involving fire safety were met by CBSI's installation of a state-of-the-art fire-alarm and sprinkler system, computer-monitored by the campus fire department. Yale personnel's initial reluctance to accept offices in a modular building (instead of the traditional ivied buildings to which they'd been accustomed) evaporated when CBSI and Centerbrook produced a plan for a structure that would be light and airy, incorporating a cantilevered internal steel roof-support system that allows up to 60 feet of continuously staggered Kawneer® window wall panels.

The large expanse of tinted glass with integrated venting panels provides natural light and fresh air to all rooms. The primary entrance to the student lounge is a window/wall assembly of tinted glass and doors 8 feet high, stretching 42 feet across the front of the building.

Cost Effectiveness / Energy Efficiency:

1. The time schedule was critical. The Yale project manager informed CBSI that a comparable site-built Yale project would have taken one-and-a-half years from conception and design to certificate of occupancy. The CBSI temporary modular building spent only three months in conception and design; production, site installation, and approval consumed only four additional months. Thus the entire project took a total of seven months from start to certificate of occupancy, less than half the time projected for an equivalent site-built structure.

2. Natural gas roof-mounted packaged Trane air-conditioner/heater units provide heat and cooling for this building. The modular concept of many small rooftop units allows fourteen HVAC zones covering all building exposures, resulting in environmental temperature levels consistent with Yale standards.

3. CBSI also combined high-energy-efficient roof, wall, and floor construction, utilizing fiberglass batts and HI-R rigid insulation panels. The Kawneer® window/wall system and doors utilize insulated glass with tinting and low-E heat transfer.

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