WS Development named Dedham High School the winner of the Legacy Place Green Team Challenge for the best sustainability idea for Legacy Place, a 675,000 s/f open-air shopping center at the intersection of Rte. 1 and I-95. opening in August.
In October 2008, WS Development and Legacy Place's design and construction team gave more than 40 students from three local high schools an on-site lesson in sustainability. Students from Dedham High School, Westwood High School, and Brookfarm Academy toured the Legacy Place site and learned about sustainability efforts at the center. After the tour, the students were challenged to return to their classrooms and develop new energy-saving ideas for Legacy Place with the winning submission receiving $1,000 toward implementation of an energy-saving initiative at their school.
Contest entries were submitted by Dedham High School's Computer Aided Design (CAD) Lab, which is comprised of students who are interested in architecture, construction, engineering, and related fields. The winning idea modeled an enclosed round trip people mover used to transport shoppers from the nearby Dedham commuter rail station with the ability to embark and disembark at adjacent apartment complexes, and coming to a final stop inside Legacy Place. Although the entire class took part in the project, seniors Dave Delendeck and Matt Fay developed the core idea.
In addition to the award presentation, students saw actual construction in progress through a site tour by representatives of the general contractor, Suffolk Construction. The students also learned more about Legacy Place's sustainable efforts, including the use of underground storage tanks to collect rainwater for irrigation, erosion and sedimentation control, innovative wastewater technologies, and the recycling and reuse of materials.
"We created the Legacy Place Green Team Challenge to get the students thinking about sustainable design and how it can be implemented at places such as shopping centers," said David Fleming, corporate marketing director, WS Development. "We're pleased to award Dedham High School with a check for $1,000 and look forward to seeing the sustainable initiative they choose to implement at their school."
In addition to Dave Delendeck and Matt Fay, Steve Dewar's CAD Lab class consists of Dale Armstrong, Zachary Berry, Justin Chen, Ian Connell, Dan Dwan, Jeffrey Farrell, Brandon Forosisky, Cam Keefe, Matthew Mariano, Michael McCormick, Tony Rouhana, and Van Williams.
The $200 million project, a joint venture of WS Development and National Amusements, includes anchors Whole Foods Market, Borders, Kings, L.L.Bean, and Showcase Cinema de Lux along with retailers such as Anthropologie, Victoria's Secret/Pink, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Aquitaine, Legal Sea Foods, Urban Outfitters, and Clarks.