CHSC is the oldest hearing and speech center in the US. The new building, designed to achieve US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) – Silver, sits compactly on a small corner site. The building features floor-height expanses of glass contrasting with ribbon windows to distinguish public gathering spaces from the more private functions. To create a visual identity for the CHSC, the exterior design expresses the idea of sound by abstracting a spectrographic representation of speech on its walls and windows with a patterned harmonic rhythm of vertical lines that step forward and back.
The building is designed to accommodate a broad mixture of functions including gathering spaces, public outreach and education, highly technical workspaces, as well as clinical, therapeutic, education, and administrative spaces.
Some of the new CHSC LEED highlights are efficient use of green space and the small amount of landscaping requires no irrigation system. The facility is installed with cost-effective plumbing fixtures which use 45% less water than typical fixtures. The building is designed to be 27.5% more efficient than required.
During the construction process, high volumes of construction waste were recycled, with a target minimum of 75% being diverted from landfills. All the wood used in the construction was FSC-certified. The interior building materials meet or exceed LEED required indoor air quality standards.
