Twinsburg Family Health and Surgery Center

The family health center portion of the building is designed for a high level of transparency, while the ambulatory surgical center is designed with more limited fenestration. Natural daylight is a key design feature, used to provide patient connectivity to nature, as well as to serve as a wayfinding device. Advances in low-e coating technology allowed the building enclosure to have a relatively high glazing-to-wall ratio, without significantly impacting energy performance or thermal comfort. Roller shades are provided at the West facade to control luminance ratios during the afternoon.

The project blends use of fluorescent and LED lighting technologies, to achieve a lighting power density 30% less than ASHRAE 90.1-2004 requirements. Occupancy sensors are provided throughout.

A variety of heating and cooling plant systems were explored during the design process. The final solution relies on evaporative-cooled condenser rooftop units. A rooftop approach allowed for a reduction in program area, while achieving efficiencies at the midpoint between air-cooled unitary and dedicated central plant equipment.

AAON Evaporative-Cooled Condenser Rooftop System

RL Series by AAON

The AAON RL series is available in nominal airflow rates of 8,900 to 75,000 cfm. This packaged rooftop air-handling unit system line can be specified with an air-cooled, water-cooled, or evaporative-cooled condenser. The latter allows for improved energy efficiency over an air-cooled system, without the need for a separate cooling tower condenser water system.

Medical equipment represents the major process load for the facility. One of the challenges found during the design phase was right-sizing cooling capability for specialized medical equipment, whose design often lags building design by a significant amount of time.