Ellison Balanced Doors Complete Amherst College’s New Science Center

FALCONER, NY…Ellison Bronze, manufacturer of premier custom balanced doors for commercial entrances around the world, recently provided 8 pairs of extruded aluminum balanced doors for the new science center at Amherst College.

Established in 1821, Amherst College is a private, not-for-profit liberal arts college located roughly two hours west of Boston. The college’s former science building was unable to accommodate today’s technologies, equipment, and overall methods for effective teaching and learning. For that reason, Amherst College needed a new, innovative building to create an open learning environment delivered through sustainable design.

The entrances feature extruded aluminum Ellison balanced doors coated with a Sherwin-Williams Sher-Nar® Amherst College Grey finish. Ellison’s PowerNow® Stanley® Magic-Force™ power operators were incorporated and connected to the building’s smoke evacuation system.

“As big as the Ellison doors are, they operate with ease,” says Peter Person, senior project manager at R&R Window Contractors. “The doors are an excellent fit for the building’s eco-friendly design and contribute to meeting its ADA accessibility requirements.”

The three-story, 251,000 sq. ft. facility features five separate building components including two “high-energy” laboratory wings and three “low-intensity use” pavilions. Serving as the core of the building, a daylit commons area is accessed through Ellison vestibule entrances set in a full-scale, energy-efficient glass curtainwall.

“There are multiple benefits offered by balanced doors for both installers and end users,” adds Person. “Our team found them to be relatively simple to install, and for windy areas, balanced doors are in a class of their own—a real benefit for the thousands of students and staff accessing the building each day.”

The Amherst College Science Center possesses one of the lowest energy footprints for a research building of its kind, boasting a pEUI (predicted energy use intensity) of 91 kBtu/sf/yr—76% less than a typical laboratory building.

Ellison doors are formed or extruded from durable materials that produce a rigid, unitized structure—ideal entrances for a building designed to last into the next century.

The new science center won a 2019 AIA COTE® Top Ten Award, the industry’s best-known awards program for sustainable design excellence.

In addition to Ellison Bronze, the project team included door installer R&R Window Contractors; architect Payette; MEP/FP engineer van Zelm Engineers; structural engineer LeMessurier; and construction manager Barr & Barr.

The Amherst College Science Center was completed in the summer of 2018.

About Ellison: Ellison Bronze, Inc., located in Falconer, NY, invented the balanced door in 1927. Today, Ellison leads the industry by providing custom marquee doors to the world’s most famous addresses. Made with the highest quality materials and unparalleled craftsmanship, Ellison doors are the standard to which all other commercial entry doors are compared the world over. Ellison also provides superior customer service by maintaining every record and drawing it has produced and offers replacement balanced hardware for every door it has ever made. For more information, visit www.ellisonbronze.com.