Built Environment Plus hosts the 2021 Green Building Showcase

Boston, MA After two long years apart, the Built Environment Plus community was able to reunite for the 2021 Green Building Showcase. This community works hard to advance sustainable and regenerative design, construction, and operation of the built environment throughout the year, and they are grateful to have been able to celebrate industry success and innovation.

At GBS 2021, community members celebrated the best efforts, designs, and products in the Commonwealth. 100+ people celebrated 50+ projects that all embraced the spirit of sustainable design. Below are highlights from the event.

Green Building of the Year: Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex - Submitted by Behnisch Architekten & Harvard University

Setting a new paradigm for scholarship in the 21^st century and beyond, Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) is designed to inspire learning and scientific discovery while showcasing sustainability.

The building weaves together a number of threads of contemporary life, which will influence current and future generations of researchers: engineering’s influence on the exploration and resolution of some of the world’s most pressing problems, the importance of cross-disciplinary efforts to achieve major scientific breakthroughs, and genuine leadership in sustainable design and urban development. The building’s adaptable, innovative environments support the school’s commitment to cutting-edge academic collaboration.

, create vibrant public spaces at a variety of scales, and set a distinctive architectural tone for the Allston campus.

The eight-level, 544,000 s/f building is organized into three four-story volumes connected by two glazed, multi-story atria that provide light-filled social hubs for faculty and students. The upper stories are clad in a facade whose layered design celebrates and calibrates the scale of the large volumes that comprise the research activities of the building, creates an identity for the complex, and plays a crucial role in the efficient energy performance of the building as well as occupant comfort.

Sustainability and performance are high priorities for Harvard. The SEC has been certified LEED Platinum. Complementing energy-conscious HVAC and lighting systems and vegetated roof terraces, the facade balances technical and aesthetic goals. Four principal facade types are used at the building, including the world’s first hydroformed stainless-steel screen, which wraps the laboratory portion of the structure. It is dimensioned to shield the interior from solar heat gain during warmer months while admitting beneficial sun during the winter, reducing cooling and heating loads. The screen reflects daylight towards the interior while maintaining large view apertures. Glazed facade sections feature exterior sun-shades and operable windows that support automated natural ventilation.

Green Home of the Year: The Harvey - Submitted by CBT

The Harvey is a new six-story, 177-unit residential building in the famed Hood Park in Charlestown. The project represents an important phase in Hood Park’s continuing evolution from its origins as an industrial plant to a state-of-the-art office/research park, and now into a modern and dynamic mixed-use development. The highly sustainable building is designed to complement the existing buildings in Hood Park and give life to the emerging Rutherford Ave. corridor with 10,500 s/f of new retail space.

The retail venues serve the larger Charlestown community, as well as the businesses throughout Hood Park. CBT collaborated with New Ecology (a firm working to bring the benefits of sustainable development to the community level, with a concerted emphasis on underserved populations) to develop a design that has achieved LEED Platinum certification under the LEED for Homes and Multifamily Mid-Rise program. The highly sustainable Harvey is a bold and inviting gateway into this vibrant and revitalized industrial neighborhood.

Student Project of the Year
Resilient Hub
Submitted by Team Harvard GSD

Category Leader Award

Carbon & Energy
Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center
Submitted by Payette

Equity & Inclusion
The Swift Factory
Submitted by Bruner/Cott Architects

Health & Wellness 1/2
Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Campus Center
Submitted by Bruner/Cott Architects

Health & Wellness 2/2
Boston Medical Center Rooftop Farm
Submitted by Recover Green Roofs

Site & Landscape
Ora Seaport
Submitted by Arrowstreet Architecture

Sustainable Construction Innovation
69 A Street
Submitted by Commodore Builders

2021 National Grid/Eversource Energy Optimization Award
Lowell Justice Center
Submitted by The Green Engineer

People’s Choice Award
The Little Building
Submitted by Elkus Manfredi Architects

Leadership Awards

Change Agent
Jacob Knowles, Director of Sustainable Design, BR+A

Emerging Change Agent
Kiersten Washle, Building Systems Engineer, CMTA