Oregon State University North District Utility Plant

Oregon State University’s new North District Utility Plant (NDUP) is a flagship energy hub for the North Campus Chilled Water Loop. The plant provides high-efficiency cooling for more than 500,000 square feet of existing academic buildings and has additional capacity for integrating future buildings. Situated on the edge of OSU’s campus core, a national historic district, the utility plant design responds to the adjacent historic resources, characterized by modern-era 1950s and 1960s structures, and echoes the proportions, materiality and patterning of the adjacent East Greenhouses and Cordley Hall. An aluminum and glass storefront system is designed to be removed when equipment needs to be replaced. Above the brick base, a screen wall of translucent polycarbonate panels framed in aluminum is supported by a galvanized steel structural system.

The NDUP serves and improves the efficiency of six existing buildings in the district. Magnetic Levitation Centrifugal Chillers eliminate most of the friction-related energy losses typical of conventional chillers. Designed to LEED Platinum equivalence through OSU’s Requirements for Sustainable Design program, annually the NDUP is estimated to save more than 2,000 MWhs of electricity – the equivalent use of 230 single-family homes – and reduce carbon emissions by 1,300 metric tons of CO2, the equivalent of 3.4 million miles driven by an average passenger vehicle. By consolidating and centralizing equipment in a single building, the NDUP make campus chilling more reliable, durable, and easier to maintain.