US Air Force CCLD, Colorado
In June 2016, the architectural practice Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) completed a new education and research centre for the US Air Force Academy in Colorado. The Center for Character & Leadership Development (CCLD) features a glass skylight that resembles a jet fighter plane's tail fin.
The CCLD will support the Air Force Academy's mission to integrate character and leadership development into all aspects of the Cadet experience while also serving as a nationwide think tank for leadership and character development initiatives.
It is an addition to the Academy's exsting campus, which SOM designed in 1954, and which was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2004.
The 46,000 sq. ft building serves as a meeting point between the cadet and public areas of the campus.
The dramatic 105 ft glass-enclosed skylight is aligned precisely with the North Star. Its diagonal steel plates form a triangular grid calibrated to resist wind loading. There is no embellishment or ornamentation.
The Forum's terraced levels accommodate flexible meeting spaces surrounded by glass-walled collaboration rooms that emphasise transparency. Symbolically placed at the building's heart, the Honor Board Room contains a conference table beneath the skylight.
The CCLD has reached LEED-NC Gold certification, setting a new standard for green technology and building practices on the campus. SOM developed integrated building systems that influence all aspects of the building's design, construction and operation to achieve this.
Some of the features that were adopted include:
- High-efficiency air-handling units.
- Displacement ventilation.
- Radiant heating and cooling.
- A solar chimney effect within the skylight to expel heated air.
- Classrooms, meeting rooms and offices situated around two adjacent courtyards to minimise the use of artificial lighting.
All images copyright Magda Biernat.
Images and content courtesy of SOM.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
Designing sustainability and performance into buildings
Specifying and selecting sustainable resilient timber products.
Modifying wood to improve resistance to decay and movement.
A last minute, long look for built environment professionals.
The architecture of creative reuse. Book review.
Installing solar panels on listed structures.
Sustainable development global goals, history in progress?
"Unless we act now, the 2030 Agenda will become an epitaph for a world that might have been."
Mike Kagioglou FCIOB named CIOB President
'Sustainable Development Goals must be focus for construction'
BSRIA training; a look at what's on offer
From energy management to compliance training.
TESP video warns to beware of rogue trainers.
Highlighting the slippery tactics of non-approved providers.
New Building Safety Wiki launched
Boosting awareness and understanding of the new fire safety regime.
New playbook on AI in construction published by CIOB
How to get to grips with, and the best from AI.
Digital Construction Report NBS
BIM, cloud, off-site, immersive tech, AI, twins and sustainability.
ECA learning zone and industry focus video series
From updates and amendments to circular economy, emergency lighting and much more.