Collin College Wylie Campus

The highly anticipated Collin College Wylie Campus spans approximately 100 acres and serves up to 7,500 students plus faculty and staff. Academic courses focus on business, hospitality, fine arts, education, health sciences and core STEM programs.

Page Southerland Page (Page) designed the three, new, large facilities at Wylie Campus – the student center with an attached conference center, the campus commons and the library. A central utility plant also was part of the Wylie Campus initial offering. All four structures feature Rockfon ceiling systems. “It takes a village to erect a bold, beautiful, multi-building campus,” said Dr. Mary McRae, Wylie Campus vice president and provost of the Wylie Campus.

Page specified Rockfon’s acoustic stone wool ceiling panels for their modern, bright white aesthetic and their high-performance attributes. Rockfon’s sound-absorbing ceiling panels help optimize acoustics to reduce noise and enhance the overall learning experience at Wylie Campus.

The reflected, diffused light from Rockfon’s white stone wool panels minimizes glare on screens and monitors, helping lessen eye strain and associated headaches. All of the stone wool ceiling products selected by Page also are UL® GREENGUARD® Gold Certified for low emissions. Products meeting this stringent certification are recognized as supporting indoor air quality, which contributes to healthier interiors in educational environments.“We emphasized feelings of warmth and openness in all of the interior spaces,” noted Kris Walsh, IIDA, LEED AP, principal and interior design director at Page.

“We want students to embrace this campus and stay all day,” explained Page’s principal, Annelie Persson Call, AIA, RIBA, LEED AP, CDT, “The design is all about the students and creating a more dynamic academic environment for them.”

Along with the wellness and performance benefits, Page’s design team appreciated the high-end appearance and versatility of Rockfon acoustic stone wool panels.

Watch the video tour of the Wylie Campus here.

Installed extensively throughout all three buildings, Rockfon Alaska acoustic stone wool ceiling panels offer the best level of sound absorption demonstrated by its very high 0.90 noise reduction coefficient (NRC). Their smooth, white surface also reflects 86% of light, carrying outside natural light deeper into the building’s interior core. Offering additional assurance to design teams creating healthy, safe and sustainable spaces that contribute to occupant wellness, Rockfon Alaska is supported with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), Health Product Declaration (HPD) and Declare Label. Rockfon Alaska panels were selected in large-format 2-by-6-foot sizes with angled tegular edge profiles, appropriately scaling the ceiling within the spacious, open, communal areas.

For smaller, enclosed rooms, Rockfon Artic acoustic stone wool ceiling panels in basic white, 2-by-2-foot sizes with square tegular edge create the right visual fit. Full-height walls and other acoustic strategies were employed within many enclosed rooms, so the Rockfon Artic ceiling panels’ sound absorption could be specified to deliver a “good” NRC of 0.75, while maintaining 85% light reflectance.

Rockfon Hygienic Plus panels helped meet multiple performance requirements in the student center’s kitchen: high light reflectance, excellent sound absorption, low particle emissions, Class A fire performance, cleanability and durability.

The modular sizing of Rockfon Hygienic, Alaska and Artic ceiling panels made it easy to use Chicago Metallic 1200 Series 15/16-inch suspension systems in almost every room. In the library, Chicago Metallic 4000 Tempra 9/16-inch provided a narrower, exposed grid. Where open plenums were preferred, Rockfon Islands in 4-by-4 and 4-by-8-foot sizes were directly suspended from the deck above. As examples, in the fitness center and music rooms, Rockfon Islands were positioned carefully for optimized acoustics and ideal light reflectance.