Solomon Cordwell Buenz designed a multi-functional space at Oberlin College’s Peter B. Lewis Gateway Center located in Oberlin, Ohio.

Encompassing guest rooms, event and conference spaces, the College’s Admissions Office and Welcome Center, and the Oberlin Center for Convergence (StudiOC), a flexible learning space, the project reimagines the campus hotel typology to create a focal point that unites the City and the College. The 104,000-square-foot, mixed-use project is a model for high performance buildings and whole systems thinking, utilizing a groundbreaking mix of first-of-its-kind sustainable technologies and innovative visitor engagement strategies. The Hotel at Oberlin is the fifth hotel in the U.S. to achieve LEED Platinum, and is the first hotel in the country to utilize radiant heating and cooling. The building is supported by a geothermal well field and derives additional power from the College’s existing photovoltaic array.

Other innovative sustainable features include rainwater collection and reuse, exterior automated solar shading devices that respond to weather and sun exposure, a highly effective thermal envelope that uses rain screen technology for long term moisture control, and natural ventilation through automated window vents and skylights. The project also used natural, salvaged, or recycled materials wherever possible and sourced 50 percent of building materials from within 500 miles. Together these systems all serve to round out the building’s creative approach to green practices in building design, construction, and use.

Design: Solomon Cordwell Buenz
Contractor: The Albert M. Higley Co.
Photography: Brad Feinknopf