Hydronics Warms To One College's Needs In Big Sky State
Stone Child Community College serves students of the Chippewa-Cree tribe who live on the Rocky Boy Reservation in northern Montana. This year, the community college, one of 32 in the nation dedicated to educating Native Americans and preserving their culture, brought three new buildings online: a cultural learning facility, Sitting Old Woman Hall; a library and student services building; and Kennewash Hall, a 25,000-sq-ft academic and administration building.
For Kennewash Hall, a hydronic reheat Taco LoadMatch system with VAV was installed, and it is now providing daily indoor comfort for students, instructors, and administrators. For this D-B project, the tribe's architectural firm, Springer Group Architects, convinced college officials that a Taco LoadMatch hydronic system wouldn't cost much more than the all-air system they originally called for, but would be more comfortable and reliable in its delivery of Btu within the two-story building through the cold Montana winters.