Check out this aerial video from Amherst College taken in September 2016 of the New Science Center as it begins to emerge from the ground. Opening in the summer of 2018, it will bring the Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Physics & Astronomy and Psychology Departments together in a new, transparent home. The project is adjacent to the Beneski Earth Sciences building by PAYETTE.
Visible are the foundation walls of the soon to be underground mechanical level. Unlike a traditional approach, our innovative strategy locates the majority of the building systems down here to reduce the building height. This will preserve views to the surrounding forests and countryside from the upper campus.
The tops of the tallest free standing walls are at the future grade of the new Greenway, designed with Michael Van Valkenbugh. A transformative and active landscape, it will redefine the entire eastern half of the campus. We’ll soon see progress on the above grade concrete structure that integrates a variety of high-tech systems to help us reduce energy consumption by 75%.
Live construction views are also available here.
We are honored to share PAYETTE has received two 2026 Green Good Design Awards from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies—Land’s Sake Farm and The Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard.
“Green GOOD DESIGN identifies and emphasizes the world’s most important examples of sustainable design and works to develop a public awareness program that informs the general public about which global companies are doing the best job in ecological and sustainable design for our world. Architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning projects, as well as product, packaging, and graphic design projects from over 30 nations were honored with the 2026 Green GOOD DESIGN Award.”
#designalways #bostonarchitecture #archdaily #archisource