Henley Hall: Institute for Energy Efficiency | University of California Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, California | 2020

Architects: KieranTimberlake
Client: University of California Santa Barbara
Contractor: Sundt
Photographers: Bruce Damonte 

Henley Hall, home to the Institute for Energy Efficiency at UC Santa Barbara, was founded with a mission to develop breakthrough technologies that save energy while advancing the standard of living worldwide.

As such, it required a facility for a dynamic collaboration that extended beyond high-quality laboratory spaces.

The new Henley Hall is a state-of-the-art research and living laboratory, consisting of wet and dry laboratories, collaboration spaces, conference rooms, a 124-seat lecture hall, and offices.

By splitting the building mass into two parts, the design team could take advantage of the pleasant, southern California climate to open areas like offices, classrooms, and circulation to fresh air without putting sensitive laboratory spaces at risk.

The east section is airy and bright, with operable windows in classrooms, and programming oriented around a multistory atrium.

The west section, containing laboratories, including a fiberoptic lab, is sealed.

The split massing makes the building's LEED Platinum aspirations achievable.

Sensitive of its place and well-oriented to campus, the building sits on a prominent campus perimeter and borders an environmentally sensitive habitat area (ESHA).

Its transparent façade maximizes fantastic views of this protected habitat and the Sierra Madre mountains beyond while allowing onlookers to view the research activity inside.

It joins the chorus of buildings around it, standing out while fitting into the university's motif of Santa Barbara sandstone, three-story massing, and a unifying material palette with deep overhangs.

Fronted by a terra cotta umbra and a grove of flowering trees that shade outdoor workspaces, the building co-locates researchers and students in a state-of-the-art facility designed to advance and adapt to evolving technologies.

This showcase building is to be as close to zero-net energy as possible, incorporating numerous technologies and design features that make the building a space that can adapt to future changes in the Institute's needs.

Henley Hall provides a foundation for many potential research inquiries, resulting in a design that matches the Institute for Energy Efficiency's world-class scholarship with dynamic collaboration, both within and outside of the laboratory environment.