The BSA’s new committee on international practice, the Global Practice Network, kicked-off last fall connecting international practitioners in Boston. The “pre-launch” event in September 2013 brought together a group of urban designers and planners from China (Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Harbin, Tianjin, Guangdong and Jiangsu). The day was divided between a morning session at BSA Space, consisting of several short presentations and Q&A, and an afternoon of touring Boston: starting with a walking tour of the Fort Point Channel waterfront and the Rose Kennedy Greenway up to Faneuil Hall; then a bus tour through the South Boston Innovation District; Copley Square and Back Bay; Huntington Avenue to Longwood Medical Area; and MIT / Kendall Square.
The group discusses the challenges and opportunities to global practice today and what others in Boston are doing internationally. Additionally, the group examines how Boston’s architecture and design industry can work together to strengthen practice abroad.
Upcoming events
April 11, 2014 | 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Global Practice Network
Payette, 290 Congress Street 5th Floor, Boston
Committee Chair
Mark Careaga AIA
The Global Practice Network is part of the Professional Practice Commission.
Cape Cod Community College’s Frank and Maureen Wilkens Science and Engineering Center is a net-positive energy building designed to transform the heart of campus.
The project approaches sustainability through a holistic and global approach, implementing a range of moves including passive solar shading overhangs, air-source heat pumps, high performance materials with low embodied carbon and the expansion of the range of thermal comfort and lighting power density. Combined with on-site photovoltaics, the project achieves net-positive energy use.
The project’s thermally modified wood rainscreen façade is a study of the modern expression of vernacular Cape Cod architecture while reducing embodied carbon. Early lifecycle assessments identified the immense carbon savings of wood over fiber cement. The design team did not stop there, furthering reductions by peeling back unnecessary finishes like carpet and ceilings. Together, these decisions enabled a 19% reduction in embodied carbon.
#earthweek #designalways #buildingscience #performalism #netpositive #capecodmodernism #capecod #newengland