Payette is proud to announce that the Northeastern University Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex has been awarded a SCUP Excellence in Architecture for a New Building Merit Award. The SCUP Excellence Awards program is a juried competition that showcases how using strategic, integrated planning can result in exemplary buildings, grounds, institutional success, and careers that inspire. The New Building category is for design that responds to the institutional mission, academic and student life program requirements, architectural and cultural heritage, community context, and the master plan of the institution.
Flow and movement define the form language of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC), expanding Northeastern University’s urban campus to the south of a major rail corridor and reconnecting the diverse neighborhoods of Fenway and Roxbury. Constructed on an urban brownfield site consisting of an existing surface parking lot set between two garages, the ISEC represents the completion of the first phase of the newly planned 660,000 SF academic precinct.
Representing a major expansion of research at Northeastern, the ISEC provides a home for four interdisciplinary academic research disciplines: engineering, health sciences, basic sciences and computer science. The project’s primary goal was to elevate Northeastern University’s capability to compete as a premier research institution. Aggressive targets and an integrated approach to sustainability was ingrained from the planning stages throughout the design process, impacting everything from the programmatic organization of the building to the design of the building enclosure.
Members of the awarding jury will present a concurrent session on Monday, July 16 at SCUP 2018, the Annual Conference in Nashville, TN July 14-17, 2018. They will discuss observations from this year’s submittals, what was “excellent,” best practices and the challenges that lie ahead for higher education. They will also talk about the excellent or unique aspects of many of the non-winning submittals in the presentation. You can find out more at the SCUP 2018 events website here.
Congratulations to all the great projects that received SCUP awards!
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.
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