New building demonstrates commitment to academic excellence

Centennial Hall Academic Building
University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
La Crosse, Wisconsin

The new Centennial Hall academic building was designed to be the “heart” of the UW-La Crosse campus and serve as a symbol of the campus-wide commitment to academic excellence. The building was opened to rave reviews by students, faculty and the entire La Crosse community. Every facet of the facility is impressive, from the technology infrastructure, flexible classroom space and meeting rooms to the natural lighting and emphasis on energy efficiency and sustainable design features.

In addition to providing mechanical, electrical, structural and technology engineering for the project, Arnold & O’Sheridan (A&O) served as the Sustainability Consultant. Utilizing extensive energy and daylight modeling, A&O identified design options that would deliver the highest performance and offer the greatest Return-on-Investment. Once design strategies were in place, A&O finalized system performance data and provided the documentation required to achieve LEED® Gold certification.

The new facility design is more than twice as large as the current one and the hall will be placed in a centralized location within the UW-Whitewater campus and will make it easier for students to get to and from class. Adding more classroom space, the engineering design of the new building will bring a greater volume of students and faculty together and supply the necessary spaces and atmosphere to facilitate communication, collaboration, educating, learning and interaction among students, faculty, alumni and industry partners.

Project features

• LEED® Gold certification being pursued
• Driven by students’ strong interest in incorporating sustainable design
• Designed for 30 % less energy consumption than the current energy code requires (confirmed via energy modeling)
• 44 classrooms
• 2 auditoriums
• 2 general access computer labs