Miami University Western Dining Hall is a 46,000-square-foot facility and includes a tea house, international cuisine, vegetarian options, a new on-site convenience store, and distinct station-style eateries. Other features are a rooftop rain garden, outdoor seating, and space for banquets, catering and special events. This building also features on-site storm water retention and filtration to supply geothermal heating/cooling to the building.

The Western Dining Hall is a part of the Miami Ohio’s geothermal project which provides facilities with efficient heating and cooling. The dining hall and three nearby residence halls are aiming to achieve at least silver LEED certification.

The project had big challenges at the beginning due to terrible weather. Experiencing conditions of 10 degrees and below, the weather, combined with excessive water, required an innovative solution. We utilized the ISO certified fabrication facility to keep manpower and waste minimal on this project. We prefabricated the following items:

•    Concrete pads
•    Frames
•    Pump skids
•    Water heater skids
•    Heat exchanger and water softener skid
•    Mechanical racks which held domestic water, heating hot water, and chilled water piping

By using prefabrication, we were able to keep the skids and piping clean given the harsh wintery conditions.