Every spring the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) hosts a Pictionary-style tournament called “What the Sketch?” We had a great time competing last spring (and won!). The event inspired our Young Designer’s Core (YDC) to organize an internal event we called “Sketch-It!”
With four teams in play, we had the Principals on deck as the sketchers for their teams. Each team had five guessers and the tournament was administered and judged by our current YDC co-chairs, Hilary Barlow and Jenny Ratner.
Each team faced off once and had seven minutes to sketch and guess as many buildings as possible. The teams had to guess the building and architect correctly. We tested our collective knowledge of iconic buildings and a few landmarks across the globe. We even threw a few Payette buildings in to the mix!
We held the “tournament” during lunch so the rest of the firm could join in, cheering for the teams. One team in particular dominated the competition with Bob Schaeffner at the helm, sketching madly for his team.
We had great fun testing our architecture knowledge and testing the Principals’ ability to quickly create a gestural sketch. We didn’t realize what an adrenaline rush Pictionary could be!
Congratulations to the winning team!
This Earth Week, we’ll be covering five landmark buildings exemplifying new approaches to building performance and sustainability.
The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Klarman Building is the first hospital in the northeast to implement chilled beams in an inpatient setting. Early energy analysis demonstrated that the use of chilled beams would be the best way to reduce building energy use.
For this strategy to work, however, the peak thermal loads of the façades could not exceed the capacity of the chilled beams. An integrated design approach and in-house modeling allowed for constant tuning of the façade to optimize glazing, solar exposure and massing. The building orients glazing to face true north and south to minimize heat gain and maximize occupant comfort, resulting in a 15% reduction in peak solar load.
Beyond performance, the distinctive serrated terracotta façade reflects the scale and cadence of individual patient rooms, providing a delicate scale and texture to the façade.
#earthweek #designalways #buildingscience #performalism #facade