The PAYETTE Young Designer’s Core (YDC) and Building Science Group hosted the second annual PAYETTE Research Voice event, giving individuals the opportunity to present a research pitch to a panel of in-house ‘experts’. The winning pitch received billable time to pursue their research with backing from a team of coaches and other colleagues interested in the topic.
The theme for this event was inspired by the popular television reality show, ‘The Voice’, where aspiring singers have a public, blind audition in-front of a panel of four coaches. Each coach critiques the artists’ performance and selects the artist with the most potential to be a part of their team. After a series of vocal challenges, the winner of this competition receives prize money, as well as a record deal that could catapult that artist to stardom.
The event is a great opportunity for all staff to practice their presentation skills and to thinking creatively about what problems architects might be able to solve outside of project restraints.
Megan van der Linde, AIA, LEED AP, PAYETTE Associate
In our version of the PAYETTE Research Voice, the presenters pitched their topic during our lunch hour in front of our five-person panel and the live studio audience – our PAYETTE staff. The five panelists for the event included Andrea Love (PAYETTE Director of Building Science/ Principal), Jim Collins (Principal), Jeff Abramson (PAYETTE Associate), Megan van der Linde (PAYETTE Associate) and Melanie Silver (PAYETTE Senior Building Scientist).
I was blown away by the quality of the presentations and research proposals that were put forward. It made for a very difficult selection process on what research projects to focus on this year.
Andrea Love, AIA, LEED Fellow, PAYETTE Principal
After careful deliberation, the panelists selected three of the pitches to be supported as an in-house PAYETTE Research project:
Life Cycle Assessment:
This research project will study the Life Cycle Assessment of our common building facades and building assemblies in order to develop a firm understanding of the environmental impact of these early design decisions as well as to help develop a workflow to incorporate LCAs into our project work.
Presented by: Luke Laverty and Becca Sturgeon
Patient Room of the Future in 2030
The research will be a forward thinking look at what a patient room of the future might be in terms of behavior, use, performance, etc.
Presented by: Justin Miller
Mass Timber Structures:
This research project will focus on better understanding the design, code and cost implications of mass timber structures in our project typologies of healthcare and laboratories. This research will help us understand the market barriers and design implications would give project teams a starting point when looking to explore the option of mass timber for a design.
Presented by: Tom Beresford and Philippe Genereux
I am excited that there is so much interest in furthering PAYETTE's knowledge and research in materials. From the environmental impact of our material choices to understanding how to implement mass timber structure, they complement our existing material health research group.
Melanie Silver, AIA, LEED AP, PAYETTE Building Scientist
Stay tuned for the results of these studies!
Each year, PAYETTE embarks on a collaborative effort to make our design services accessible to local communities through the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. This year, we celebrated our 8th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service by partnering with 7 local nonprofits:
- Breaktime @breaktime
- Brighton Main Streets @brightonmainstreets
- Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition @masstpc
- The Elizabeth Peabody House @elizabethpeabodyhouse
- Greater Ashmont Main Street @greaterashmont
- Greater Grove Hall Main Streets
- Animal Protection Center of Southeastern Massachusetts @animalprotectioncenter
To learn more about each of these projects, visit the link in our bio!
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