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]

Bishop Fenwick Place, Xavier University’s new residential and dining complex, was dedicated last month in a ceremony that celebrated the transformational residence and dining complex on the Cincinnati campus.

Fenwick Place is home to 535 sophomores with suite-style living in four connected wings that rise above a green terrace. The terrace also serves as the roof of Hoff Dining Commons, the university’s new central dining facility. The new Commons seats up to 700, while a retail dining component has seating that spills onto the patio outside. The 245,000 square-foot ...[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]

Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven Hospital has been named a winner in the Connecticut Green Business Awards. The cancer hospital, which began seeing its first patients late last year, took top honors in the “New Construction” category.

Smilow Cancer Hospital is one of 25 businesses, organizations, and individuals recognized with Green Business Awards, which were announced in a feature in the January issue of the Connecticut Business News Journal. Smilow was recognized for the highly sustainable design and construction of the 516,500 s.f. project, which is targeting a minimum of ...[more]

NEW YORK, NY – Engineering News-Record (ENR) Magazine released its first Top Green Design Firms list, ranking Shepley Bulfinch at #59. The rankings are based on design firms’ 2007 revenues from projects that were registered and are actively seeking certification from the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and other major third-party environmental standards organizations.

The firm’s portfolio includes a wide range of sustainable projects, including those receiving LEED certification. The Duke Library at Furman University received LEED Gold certification earlier this year, and the firm’s renovation of Gallatin Hall at Harvard Business School, scheduled to be completed later this summer, is on track for LEED Gold certification.

Sustainable design is a ...[more]

BALTIMORE, MD – The green roof of the Decker Quadrangle at Johns Hopkins University will be on show April 29 on a walking tour offered as part of the sixth annual Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities conference in Baltimore. The tour, “Midtown Baltimore by Foot”, will take conference participants on a two-mile walk through Johns Hopkins’ Homewood campus and the adjoining Remington neighborhood.

One of the largest green roofs in the state of Maryland, the 75,000 sf grassy quadrangle is a defining element of Johns Hopkins’ Homewood campus while screening a 604-space parking garage beneath. The Quadrangle and adjacent Computational Science Building and Mason Hall were completed last fall and ...[more]

Worcester, MA – The recently completed Worcester Trial Court was among projects recognized in a feature on sustainable design that appeared today in the Worcester (MA) Telegram and Gazette.

The article made reference to the Action Plan for Green Buildings in Massachusetts State Construction Projects, published by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and Division of Capital Asset Management in October 2006. The report cited the new Worcester Courthouse for its many sustainable design features, including .

Sustainable design features of the courthouse, include lighting, with designs that use natural light, and light and motion sensors, sophisticated heat exchange technology in its ventilation system, and other ‘green’ technologies.

The new ...[more]

BOSTON, MA — Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott has been selected as one of three winning entries out of 80 project submissions in the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) national House for an Ecologist Competition. The award-winning design of the Water Wall House was created by Andre Kamili, Cindy Lee and Jesse Taylor, young designers at Shepley Bulfinch. The winning projects are selected as best-practice examples of a high-performance, sustainable design approach.

The Water Wall House, designed by Andre Kamili, Cindy Lee and Jesse Taylor, was one of three winning designs among 80 submissions in ...[more]