Eagle Rock Debuts New on-campus Low-energy Faculty Triplex

A ribbon cutting ceremony and open house were held late last month here at Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, marking the completion of a much anticipated 3,700-square-foot triplex on campus that will house three staff members and provide a common room for select campus gatherings.

In addition to providing living quarters for three Eagle Rock staffers — all of whom will now be highly integrated into our residential life program — the triplex affords additional support for house parents, which means enhanced opportunities for student growth and success.

The floor plan includes two, one-bedroom apartments — each measuring about 750 square feet — a 1,500-square-foot two-bedroom apartment, and a shared common area similar to the commons found in all six of our student houses. The common area is designed for residential life activities such as support groups, movie nights, enrichment and club activities, as well as other recreational opportunities.

Our new triplex is unique in that it was designed as a go-to example of saving energy at every part of the planning and construction process. And this was done while maintaining healthy indoor quality and comfort throughout.

Among the energy-saving design highlights:

• A 9-kilowatt solar array provides much of triplex’s electricity.
• Increased insulation protects key walls.
• High-performance multiple coat ‘LowE glass’ allows winter solar heat gain while limiting heat loss.
• Increased attention to air sealing is present, resulting in less than three air changes per hour.
• Energy recovery ventilators exhausts stale moist air while preheating fresh outside air.
• The use of high-performance mini-split air source heat pumps transfer heat from the outside air into the building.
• Hot water is provided by two electric heat pump water heaters that transfer heat from the hot attic air into the water tanks.
• All light fixtures use low-energy LED technology.
• There is no natural gas connected to the building, and no on-site fossil fuel is burned to operate the triplex.

We are thankful for everyone who worked on the project, including Mark Paris and Jeff Morreau, the construction supervisor and the general contractor, respectively, for Dallman Construction; Nathaniel Riedy and Cole Gehler, the civil engineers from MIG; and Sam Nishek, the building architect from Barrett Studios.

We also want to thank the Eagle Rock Facilities team — Burt Bowles (facilities supervisor), Terry Tierney (facilities and maintenance assistant), and Joel “Shortz” Ziegler (facilities maintenance assistant); the Explore Week facilities maintenance student team of Carter, Evan, Cody, and Victor; Kathy Obenhuber, the project manager from American Honda; the American Honda Education Corp. (Eagle Rock) board of directors for their vision and commitment to the residential program; and American Honda Motor Co. for its generous financial support.

A second triplex with the exact same floor plan is under construction and scheduled for completion in March of next year.

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Editor’s Note: For background information on this project, please read our head of school, Jeff Liddle’s, post from last October — Eagle Rock Blueprints Describe Both Physical and Mission Projects.