Central Utility Plant
Centers for Disease Control
Atlanta, Georgia

This 54,000 sf plant provides utility services to the Centers for Disease Control Roybal Campus. Its prominent location on the site dictates a design priority. The building's components include chillers, boilers, electrical rooms, cooling towers, and an intricate system of pumps and piping. The east elevation consists of massive concrete walls giving the building a significant presence. A diaphanous skin of aluminum grating further screens the building and blurs the separation of the roof-mounted cooling towers from the main body below. This screening acts as an instrument to direct the viewer's eye as the grating wraps the corner to the north end. At the northwest corner, the screen dissolves to reveal a gap between the cooling towers and the main building volume housing the chillers. This gap becomes dynamic as water from the cooling towers rain down to the sump level above the chillers. Further south along the west elevation is the control room, its form is differentiated from the other building components through a change of scale, material, and color. The control room's location is at the intersection of the major building elements, not only facilitating the optimal viewing advantage, but also giving its form a hierarchical importance in the composition of the facade. The main glazed stair is located next the control room, expressing human scale, and introducing human interaction through its visible circulation.

2005 ACI Georgia - First Place Industrial Building

Size: 54,000 sf      Cost: $26,000,000      Completion Date: 2004

Services: Programming, Interior Design, and Architectural Design through Construction Administration

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© 2009 Richard Wittschiebe Hand
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