This fall Lab Design published our article, “Lab synergistics enhance energy efficiency.” Andrea Love looks at integrating energy-efficiency strategies into design early in the process and viewing strategies in tandem rather than isolation. We’ve shared an excerpt here. For the full article, visit Lab Design.
Many energy-efficiency strategies are often viewed in isolation, not allowing projects to realize their full potential. When viewed as part of the cooling system, the integration of a high-performance envelope with exterior shading is able to decrease the size of equipment needed. Decoupling the heating and cooling loads from the ventilation with a radiant system, along with the integration of an ambient and task lighting scheme, can allow a building to reduce its floor-to-floor heights. These symbiotic relationships between systems can save construction costs, while yielding high-performance, low-energy research labs. Conventional thinking assumes there’s a premium to be paid for a “green” building. However, we have observed that a high-performance building can also be a lower-cost building through the integration of synergistic strategies.
For the full article, click here.
The 2025 OpenLAB Boston studio work will be exhibited at Virginia Tech Monday, March 2nd through Wednesday, March 4th.
Please join us for the following events on Monday, March 2nd:
11:00am - Lecture with Parke MacDowell
1:00pm Lobby talk with Kevin Sullivan
This year’s studio identifies seven sites along the frayed edges of Boston’s Greenway. The Greenway is a one-mile-long linear park running through the heart of the city, reconnecting downtown Boston with its waterfront. Many of the parcels along its edges remain undeveloped and present mute, blank facades to the public realm. Addressing and repairing these edges through acts of infilling, layering, grafting, framing, and placemaking is the core focus of the studio—SUTURE.