With Columbus State Community College’s culinary program considered #1 in the state of Ohio, the program has a state-of-the-art facility, opened in 2019, to match that rating—Mitchell Hall. With sustainability in mind, the goal was to come together with a range of stakeholders to create a healthy and energy-efficient space that would achieve LEED certification. And they did it!
A total of 46 credits was earned for LEED v4 BD+C certification. Some of the credit points earned include:
- Location & Transportation: 10/16 with the placement of the building adjacent to a new bus line.
- Water Efficiency: 10/11 even with 364 plumbing fixtures by installing low-flow toilets, urinals and dual-flush toilets. These fixtures helped score a perfect six points for the indoor water use reduction credit. The cooling tower on the roof monitors water quality by measuring mineral concentrations. A side-stream separator returns filtered water to the system. Water metering monitors for leaks.
- Energy & Atmosphere: 14/33 with the optimized energy performance credit awarded because the project was designed for 19.5% energy cost savings. Magnetic bearing chillers, condensing boilers, wrap-around heat pipes, and advanced energy metering help improve efficiency.
The categories of Water Efficiency and Energy and Atmosphere comprised approximately half the points for the project, for which DesignGroup served as project team lead and the architect. Additionally, Columbus State earned five credits by utilizing both enhanced commissioning and envelope commissioning throughout the project.
The site design was informed by the campus’ master plan and was the college’s first expansion south of Mount Vernon Avenue.
Cameron Mitchell was an exceptional partner for Columbus State and led to new collaborations with a range of organizations, including grocers, food growers, farmers markets, restaurants, and food pantries like Mid Ohio Food Bank. The culinary program is following EPA’s food recovery hierarchy, with donating extra food the second tier after source reduction. Other partners include Experience Columbus and Nationwide Realty.
The building is accessible from all sides and connects the community to the campus core. The landscape requires no in-ground irrigation and all plants are native to Ohio. Other environmentally friendly and community-focused design features include:
- Collaborative spaces throughout the building promote informal interaction between students and faculty.
- Seven teaching kitchens, along with the teaching restaurant and mixology lab, offer large, energy-efficient windows that enhance the connection to the outside environment.
- A new campus quad provides an outdoor venue for events of all kinds, and an outdoor classroom offers open-air demonstration space.
- Outdoor dining at the bakery and restaurant promotes interaction with the wider community.
With Mitchell Hall, Columbus State’s culinary program is poised for growth. The building, which doubles the School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts’ enrollment capacity to more than 1,500 students, is helping to attract even more students to this program despite the pandemic. By putting all these amazing features in place—Columbus State will no doubt keep its #1 rating.