While our ability to execute high performance buildings was once almost exclusively dependent upon intuition and anecdotal evidence, the tools at our disposal today push us to new levels of precision and discovery. Recognizing this, we hired our Director of Building Science Andrea Love and formed our Building Science Group in 2011. Andrea shares with Architect Magazine how our practice has evolved since she joined the firm and the role of research in our work. Seven years in to her tenure at the firm, we’ve found the fusion of design and performance is at the heart of our practice.
The Lab Rats: Payette Champions Subject Matter Expertise
Seven years ago, Payette decided to expand its practice capabilities and make more informed design decisions using in-house research. The Boston-based firm hired Andrea Love, AIA, to fill its newly created position of director of building science, adding itself to the growing legion of architectural practices with strong research bents, such as Perkins+Will, SHoP Architects, and KieranTimberlake.
We are trying to disrupt change. By sharing all of our research freely, as in academia, we are not only advancing the industry's knowledge but also benefiting by becoming known as experts on a particular topic.
Andrea Love, Payette Principal / Director of Building Science
Read the article.
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