Currents

An Energy Newsletter for Local Governments

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

Woods Hole Research Center Gilman Ordway Campus, Woods Hole, Mass.
William McDonough + Partners, Charlottesville, Va.
URL: http://www.aiatopten.org/hpb/overview.cfm?ProjectID=257

Working within a challenging and constrained site, the design preserves the cultural landscape represented by an existing 19th-century summer home, respectfully and adaptively reusing the original house and adding contemporary office, laboratory, and common spaces. The all-electric building relies on renewable energy sources, including a grid-connected and net-metered 26.4-kW photovoltaic array that powers the building's closed-loop ground-source heat pump system. A planned on-site wind turbine will likely make the building a net-energy exporter. Icynene spray foam insulates all exterior walls and roof assemblies, creating a technically and ecologically effective air barrier and optimized R-values. Other components reinforce the performance benefits of this extremely secure envelope including offset-stud framing, double- and triple-glazed argon-insulated low-e windows, enthalpy wheels that recapture heat and moisture from exhaust air and precondition incoming fresh air, and high-efficiency lighting controls and occupancy monitors.

Jury Comments: By testing and understanding how to achieve the highest level of performance in environmentally sensitive elements, such as water recovery and sole-source wind-turbine energy, this building raises the bar very high for the next generation of buildings.

• 20 River Terrace, The Solaire, New York City
• Environmental Services Building, Pierce County, Wash.
• Factor 10 House, Chicago
• Genzyme Center, Cambridge, Mass.,
• Greyston Bakery, Yonkers, NY
• Herman Miller, Zeeland, Mich.,
• Lake View Terrace Branch Library, Los Angeles
• The Plaza at PPL Center, Allentown, Pa.,
• City of White Rock Operations Centre, White Rock, British Columbia
• Woods Hole Research Center Gilman Ordway Campus, Woods Hole, Mass.
• Back to Article