(C04) From Plan to Action: A Human-Centered Design for a Decarbonized Future in Boston

In 2017, Boston University’s Climate Action Plan set a goal to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2040, 10 years ahead of the city’s goal. Shortly after the plan’s approval, construction began on the University’s newest project–the Center for Computing & Data Sciences. What is now the largest sustainable, operationally fossil fuel-free building in Boston, this 345,000-square-foot vertical campus rises over the banks of the Charles River dramatically re-shaping the city’s skyline.

Leading the city’s transition to a carbon free future by 2050, this 19-storey cantilevered building rises 305-feet-high and prioritizes human-centered design, maximizing opportunities for collaboration, interconnectivity, and innovation. A sustainability precedent for the university and city, the building features a geothermal closed-loop system that heats and cools the building through a ground source heat pump system. It draws on renewable and alternative energy sources, including solar panels on campus and an off-campus wind farm. The design also addresses water and thermal comfort through water efficiency, a ground water recharge system, and cutting-edge exterior shading systems. The Center also elevates the ground floor for future resilience to coastal flooding and will be one of the first buildings at the university to implement its Zero Waste Initiative.

In this session, representatives from Boston University, KPMB Architects, Transsolar, and BR+A Consulting Engineers come together to describe how the complexity of our climate challenges require deep collaboration to translate inputs and insights into precedent-setting solutions for the design and delivery of a high-performance institutional building. The client will articulate the University’s commitments, standards, and initiatives; the architect will discuss site context, programming, and how the design team worked closely with the project partners to respond to the sustainability goals; the climate engineer will share the analysis for minimizing envelope loads and optimizing thermal performance to enable an all-electric strategy; and the mechanical and electrical engineer will provide details about how the systems for the meticulously designed building were executed.