Entry number: B08010
Project Name: UNLV Student Services Phase Two
Building Type: educational
Completion Date: July 2007
Architect: assemblageSTUDIO
Building Location: 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy. Las Vegas, NV 89154

Design Team:
Electrical Engineer: TJK Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Landscape Architect: Marriotti Landscape Architecture
General Contractor: Richardson Construction, Inc.
Structural Engineer: Mendenhall Smith Structural Engineers
Civil Engineer: Summit Engineering
Mechanical Engineer / Plumbing: Petty Engineering Las Vegas, LLC
Specifications: Spectra Consulting

Statement of design approach:
To create a working environment rich with natural lighting and also to create an exterior microclimate for users and students to progressively become cooler in the sequence of spaces before reaching the entrance of the mechanically cooled interior.

Narrative:
The facility serves as the new location for student registration & recruitment on the UNLV campus. In an attempt to create overflow space for peak demands on registration & campus tours, the two structures open into a common plaza. The sheltered courtyard creates a protection environment cooled through breezes generated by exterior "Big Ass" fans. The fans, landscape & recessed seating plaza will cool the ambient exterior temperatures by 15-20 degrees. The landscape within the plaza changes to create a dense oasis for a comfortable microclimate. Both structures utilize north and south daylighting strategies and use full height glazing in the courtyard to bring the outside in.

Our research into office and customer service areas indicated that natural lighting was the key to employee satisfaction in their productivity, moral, absenteeism and turnover as well as playing a vital role in satisfying the customer. The research shows it wasn't just providing a skylight or small "peeking" window, but vast amounts of glazing to allow for visual distractions and lighting. We explored various means of getting natural light into the facility; large open glazed walls, viewing windows, and skylights that run almost the entire length of the building.