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Greening Harper College
The new Science and Technology Building at William Rainey Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, will incorporate the largest installation of Trespa panels in North America – more than 75,000 square feet. According to Project Designer Erik Andersen, Trespa panels have been used in Europe for decades and have recently found their way into the North American market. Trespa Meteon is a flat panel made of thermoset resins homogeneously reinforced with wood fibers manufactured under high pressure and temperatures. “As the key element in an exterior ventilated cladding system it allowed for an economical, aesthetic and environmentally friendly solution for the exterior design of the project,” Anderson says. Trespa panels consist of 70% wood fibers, coming from replenishable sources, and 30% organic binding agents, some as by-products produced in other industrial processes. The panels are recyclable and the manufacturing processes minimize consumption of raw materials and waste. The Harper College facility will provide the state-of-the-art laboratory and teaching spaces to support the growing science programs in the Northwestern Chicago region. The program includes teaching and research laboratories, classrooms, offices and support spaces. The building also will include flexible lab/teaching spaces to accommodate targeted learning programs in cooperation with the high technology corporate neighbors of the college. Construction is expected to begin in May.
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