2023 Fall Issue of Urban Land - 50

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4. Beloit College Powerhouse
BELOIT, WISCONSIN
A former coal power plant dating back to the early 1900s has
found new life as the Powerhouse, a student union, recreation
center, and athletic facility for Beloit College. A new pedestrian
bridge, new parks, and new pathways reconnect the campus
and nearby downtown to the Rock River, which also serves as a
geothermal source of efficient heating and cooling for the building.
Water is piped in through a heat exchanger that, along with
radiant panels, modulates interior temperatures.
Designed by Chicago-based Studio Gang with associate
architect Angus-Young Associates of Madison and Janesville,
Wisconsin, the renovated building includes an auditorium, a conference
center, student lounges, and a coffee shop. To embody
the building's past, the architects retained old equipment and
infrastructure, some of which supports an elevated running
track that circulates through the whole facility. The field house
5. Gippsland Regional Aquatic Centre
TRARALGON, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
The Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria has long
been a center for the mining and burning of coal, which supplies
most of the state's electricity. But when the time came to
construct a new public aquatic facility, the Latrobe City Council
chose to tap a cleaner and even
longer-standing source of energy in the area: vast aquifers
beneath the valley, which maintain a temperature of 150
degrees Fahrenheit (65 degrees C). Designed by the Melbourne
office of Peddle Thorp, the Gippsland Regional Aquatic Centre
incorporates a closed-loop deep-bore geothermal heating
system that taps into the aquifers and saves $640,000 per year
(US$430,000) in heating costs.
Completed in 2021, the facility includes an eight-lane,
50-meter indoor pool with seating for 500 spectators, an
indoor water play zone, a warm-water pool, spa and sauna
areas, a wellness center, a café and retail area, and changing
facilities. Funding came, in part, from the Victoria government.
addition has a polycarbonate façade that lets in diffuse natural
light. The Powerhouse opened in 2020.
6. Google Bay View Campus
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA
If the hundred miles of pipes in the geothermal system of
Google's new headquarters were laid end to end, they would
stretch, approximately, from Mountain View to Sacramento.
The closed-loop pipe system is integrated with the building's
4,000 structural piles, drawing heat from the ground in cold
months and storing heat in the earth during warm periods.
Estimated to cut carbon emissions nearly in half and reduce
water consumption required for cooling by 90 percent, it is
billed as the largest geothermal pile system in North America.
Copenhagen-based BIG and London-based Heatherwick
Studio designed the 42-acre (17 ha) campus with Google's
design and engineering teams. Completed in 2022, the headquarters
has room for 4,000 employees and includes office
space and an event center. It is also 100 percent electric,
powered by interlocking rooftop solar panels and energy generated
by nearby wind farms. The campus includes bay view
trails accessible to the public, as well as woodlands, marshlands,
and wet meadows.
50
URBAN LAND FALL 2023
CHRIS MA TTES ON PHO T OGR APHY
T OM HARRIS C OUR TES Y S TUDIO GANG.
IW AN B A AN
2023 Fall Issue of Urban Land

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