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Currents

An Energy Newsletter for Local Governments

AIA's Top Ten Green Projects Showcase Environmentally Responsible Design, Redevelopment of Viable Brownfields

Genzyme Center, Cambridge, Mass.,
Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner Inc., Venice, Calif.
URL: http://www.aiatopten.org/hpb/overview.cfm?ProjectID=274

The building, headquarters for a biotechnology company, sits on former brown-field site in Cambridge at Kendall Square, a dense, massive "1970s Urban Renewal" development project built on wetlands fill. All of the environmental design strategies — energy efficiency, water conservation, material selection, urban site selection, and indoor environmental quality — not only contribute to the Platinum LEED rating the building is expected to achieve from the US Green Building Council, but establish an open spatial atmosphere for the building occupants. The high-performance curtain-wall system boasts operable windows on all 12 floors. These windows, linked to the building management system, allow for automated control and "night cooling". Also, a third of the exterior envelope is a ventilated double-façade with a four-foot buffer that tempers solar gains year round. The building's central atrium space acts as a huge return air duct and light shaft, and steam from a nearby power plant supplies central heating and cooling. The building will also use 32 percent less water than a comparable office building by having waterless urinals, dual-flush toilets, automatic faucets and low-flow fixtures.

Jury Comments: The corporation invested heavily to make this great piece of architecture a model for corporate offices in the coming decade, with its sophisticated glazing, lighting, and mechanical systems that create a growing, active place supportive of its occupants.