Under the green is unseen infrastructure critical to Princeton’s sustainability goals.
After 15 months, construction on Poe and Pardee Fields is complete. The fields were taken off-line in June of 2022 right after Reunions. Work immediately began on a large-scale underground utility project including stormwater management and geo-exchange.
Now, just in time for the start of the Fall semester, Poe and Pardee Fields have been restored and are better than ever. While the grass is green and the landscaping is fresh, it is what you can’t see that is most impressive.
“Poe and Pardee Fields are an open campus green that serves Campus Rec and as informal use, which is what we want it to be. But there is much more underneath,” said Ben Petrick, Assistant University Architect in the Office of the University Architect and planner for the geo-exchange program. “We have a whole utility corridor running through the south side of the field. We’ve got green infrastructure to support stormwater management for nearby buildings. And we’ve got 357 geo-exchange bores that are going to allow us to be more efficient in our energy use and lower our reliance on fossil fuels.”
The Office of the University Architect plays a major role in the long-range planning of the campus while considering multiple land and building uses to ensure Princeton maximizes the use of space.
“It is not just looking at a site, but everything that a site can be, from underground to the roof, and considering the full campus,” said Petrick. “We consider what our long-range goals and needs are and then project out even past that.”
Geo-Exchange drill rigs on Poe Field during construction. (Photo by Alex Karels, Princeton Facilities)
Poe and Pardee Fields have long been an attractive site for geo-exchange given the proximity to the West Plant and designation as an open space. It was initially identified as the first geo-exchange site on central campus. But, after work began on Hobson College, resources were shifted to prioritize bore drilling at that site and nearby Whitman Lawn.
It wasn’t until work began on the new Frist Health Center and Schmidt Hall that Poe and Pardee Fields came back into the mix. The size and location made it an optimal place for a regional-scale stormwater system. With Roberts Soccer Stadium’s combination of geo-exchange bores and stormwater detention chambers as a reference point, planning began for the field’s layered systems.
“We looked at every different scenario for trying to keep the field open in some capacity,” said Brian Robertson, President of Circadia Group, the consultant group managing the installation of the geo-exchange system. “Ultimately, it was determined to take it completely offline, get it done in the shortest period of time possible, and impact the campus just once.”
Geo-exchange is one part of a new campus-wide heating and cooling system currently being installed. The geo-exchange bores allow excess heat to be stored deep below ground after it is extracted from buildings during the summer. In the old system, that heat was rejected through cooling towers in the summer and fossil fuels were burned in the winter to generate steam to heat campus buildings.
“Poe and Pardee Fields are helping us change that model,” said Ted Borer, Energy Plant Director. “We won’t throw heat away in the summer just because we have excess. We’re building a vehicle in which we can store and reuse it.”
This reuse of thermal energy enables Princeton to move away from the old steam system to one that will, one day in the near future, be run entirely on renewable electricity.
Brian Robertson and Mark Strozeski of Circadia Group, the project management firm overseeing Poe and Pardee Fields. (Photo by Ryan Halbe, University Communications)
Between a portion of the rows of 850-foot-deep bores are a series of stormwater chambers. When it rains, excess runoff from the new Frist Health Center and the future Schmidt Hall will be collected and sent into the chambers, which have a gravel-bottom designed to promote water infiltration. In a major storm event, water can be held in the overflow chambers before slowly infiltrating back into the ground, mitigating potential flooding.
Throughout the project, the team has embodied the flexible, collaborative planning process employed by Princeton Facilities. Poe and Pardee Fields serve Campus Rec and as informal and event space, so the project team worked closely with campus stakeholders.
“We were able to communicate and work across all of our different stakeholder groups,” said Petrick. “We worked to meet campus initiatives, with our stormwater management, with our goals for net-zero, and with our needs for Campus Rec and event space. All these things came together with Poe and Pardee Fields.”
And now, 15 months later the space is open. Intramurals will return. So will sunbathing and outdoor seminars. The P-Rade will once again have its grand finale at Poe and Pardee Fields.
“Now we have an open space that is better at serving all its different functions,” said Petrick. “And there’s so much going on beneath it. It is a cool thing that when people come to visit the campus, all they see is a beautiful open green space not recognizing how performative the fields really are. They’re going to have no idea what is under there.”
“What is important about Poe and Pardee Fields is that it is a once in a century activity,” said Borer. “This was a disruptive moment, but as good stewards of our campus and its infrastructure, it will still be functioning in 100 years.”