There are some topics that keep coming up when we talk about leveraging BIM for Building Performance Analysis (BPA). In presentations to peers, clients, and students alike, discussion inevitably comes back to the applicability and timing of BPA, and the interoperability of BIM models and BPA models. What does this mean for design teams?

Last year a colleague at Vanderweil Engineers approached me with a challenge: “How do we leverage our BIM models for Building Performance Analysis?” I took the bait. Armed with the support of our firms and numerous knowledgeable resources, we ...[more]

Beauty may be more than skin deep, but when you’re talking about energy-efficient buildings, it starts with the building envelope.  Strategies for detailing and specifying for high-performance building enclosures are discussed in “Energy performance starts at the building envelope,” in the December 2011 issue of Building Design + Construction (BD+C).

The article features three members of Shepley Bulfinch’s in-house Technical Advisory Council – Greta Eckhardt, Mark Finneral, and Dan Salive – among the design and construction professionals who offer their insights and strategies regarding thermal performance and materials.

Energy performance ...[more]

Who says building science can’t be a competitive sport? Shepley Bulfinch, which has set the standard for building enclosure design for more than a decade, came out on top in the Air Barrier Challenge organized by the Boston Society of Architects’ (BSA) Building Enclosure Council to design and test a window installation in a wall.

Shepley Bulfinch fielded one of nine teams from architecture firms, consultants, and manufacturers’ representatives in last month’s competition. The goal was for each team to design and install a successful window-to-wall interface, perhaps the most ...[more]

Colleges and universities that are looking for ways to improve energy efficiency and resulting cost savings are realizing that some habits start from the ground up, as discussed in “How to achieve a tight building envelope,”� which appears in the June 2012 issue of College Planning & Management.

In the article, Jonathan Baron talks about the value to owners of investing in building component mock-ups and building commissioning, as well as the importance of evaluating the compatibility of different materials used in creating the building envelope.

Jonathan’s remarks on building ...[more]

Creating an environment that promotes healing complements the development and practice of treatments that heal. That was the thinking behind the design of Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven Hospital, which has received an Award of Merit in the Connecticut Green Building Council’s (CTGBC) 2011 Green Building Design Awards. Norman Roth, Yale-New Haven’s Senior Vice President of Administration, accepted the award at the June 21 ceremony in New Haven.

The hospital was designed by Shepley Bulfinch and landscape architects Towers|Golde, and built by Turner Construction.

Eight years in the making, the 516,000 square foot cancer hospital ...[more]

Last week’s publication of the 2012 International Green Construction Code (IgCC) marks a major milestone in sustainable design, construction, and operations, as we shift from an incentive-based approach toward a regulatory one.

While current building codes were developed to protect life and safety of present building occupants, the IgCC expands its purview to protect the environment on behalf of the wider community, both present and future.  This new overlay code builds on current systems of voluntary design guidelines and goals, moving toward mandatory adherence to principles of sustainable ...[more]

Why do buildings last? How do we design flexible spaces that can change and adapt? 

A team from Shepley took on this question as part of the Open Building conference at Build Boston last month. The conference tasked three firms – Shepley, Payette, and Cannon – to propose a building that would evolve over time to house multiple uses on a large scale site in Somerville. We took the long historical view and, after a week of exhaustive debate, found that architectural systems which are designed to change rarely work or ...[more]

Bloomington, IL – Site preparation is now underway at Illinois Wesleyan for the newest addition to the university’s main quad: a technology-rich classroom building with a wide array of classroom, study, and social spaces.

Sustainability is the watchword from project outset, as construction waste and debris from the site is recycled. The brick-clad building will be highly energy-efficient, with generous use of natural light and a geothermal field below.

The new classroom building is Shepley Bulfinch’s third project on the Illinois Wesleyan campus, following the Ames Library, which opened in ...[more]