Shawmut Design and Construction to build Kohler Environmental Center at Choate Rosemary Hall

Shawmut Design and Construction has been selected to build the Kohler Environmental Center at Choate Rosemary Hall. The Kohler Environmental Center, designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP, is a 32,000 s/f timber and fieldstone academic center that will provide an interdisciplinary focus on sustainability and the environment. "The Kohler Environmental Center represents a true commitment to sustainable living," said James Ansara (1976), chairman of Shawmut Design and Construction, and a former Choate student. The Kohler Environmental Center will be constructed on 266 acres of undeveloped land north and east of Choate's main campus and will function as a working laboratory. The building will also include classrooms and seminar rooms, as well as a residential facility with a kitchen that will house two faculty apartments, up to twenty students, visiting researchers, graduate students and scholars-in-residence. The Kohler Environmental Center is designed to achieve LEED-platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council - a first for the Choate community - and a net-zero energy usage rating through an on-site, 290 kilowatt, solar photovoltaic (PV) array. Design elements also include geothermal, solar hot water, as well as super-insulated walls and roof. Construction of the Kohler Environmental Center will be primarily funded through a donation by Herbert Kohler, Jr., chairman of Choate Rosemary Hall's board of trustees and chairman and CEO of Kohler Co. "This piece of land will permit Choate to breathe freely as a microcosm of a world community, but it will also act as a laboratory for those who live there so they can speak with authority and act responsibly on the subject of sustainability," said Kohler. A ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony was held on April 1st, 2011. Construction is scheduled to be completed in summer 2012, with classes beginning during the 2012-2013 school year.