Linn County Iowa

Dr. Percy & Lileah Harris Building | Cedar Rapids, IA

The $31.2 million Dr. Percy and Lileah Harris Building in in Cedar Rapids, IA was developed to replace an aging existing facility, adding much-needed space for critical services to the community.

The new space houses 11 Linn County Public Health Departments, including Community Health Assessment & Improvement Plans, Chronic Disease Management, Immunizations & STI Testing/Treatment, HIV/HEP C Counseling & Testing, and various regulatory departments. It is also home to Linn County Child and Youth Development Services and includes classrooms, a natural playscape, a middle school size gym, parent education rooms, a community kitchen, conference rooms and a state-of-the-art laboratory and clinic.

The facility is served by a central cooling plant with high-efficiency, water-cooled, magnetic bearing chillers with heat rejection to open cooling towers with an indoor water sump tank providing chilled water to various variable air volume air-handling units and fan coil units throughout the facility. The facility is also served by a central heating plant consisting of gas-fired, condensing boilers providing heating water to variable air volume air-handling units, reheat variable air volume boxes, fin-tube, in-floor heat, fan coil units, and snow melt loops. 

With the variety of decorative ceilings, lighting consisted of a mix of suspended direct/indirect lighting to highlight some ceilings and recessed slot style lighting to better blend in with others. The lighting controls, which included daylight harvesting, occupancy sensing, and time of day control, were accomplished through the building automation system.