New Boston Art School Gets Double Honors for Sustainability, Design
A Boston- based architectural firm has received two top awards for its sustainable design of the new EpiCenter for Artists for Humanity building, which houses educational programs for at-risk teens.
A Boston- based architectural firm has received two top awards for its sustainable design of the new EpiCenter for Artists for Humanity (AFH) building, which houses educational programs for at-risk teens.
The EpiCenter received both the K-12 Honor Award for Design Excellence and the Sustainable Design Award in a rare joint honors program from the Boston Society of Architects and the American Institute of Architects (AIA), New York Chapter. Winning both awards is unprecedented.
AFH, which commissioned the project, tasked the Arrowstreet architecture firm to create a building that would represent the school's educational mission of self-sufficiency, creativity, and progressive action.
"AFH told us to create a building that would be a strong and memorable presence in the South Boston area and notable within the larger context of the city of Boston," explains James P. Bachelor, Arrowstreet's chairman and also principal-in-charge for the project. "We gave them something with clear lines that is functional, strong, green -- and affordable."
A space- and energy-efficient building, the EpiCenter sits at the barren edge of a district being transformed from industrial to mixed-use. The building's steel and glass design provides a strong identity; its simple geometry and use of materials are borrowed from this industrial part of south Boston, according to its designers.
A Collaborative Process
Students and staff participated in the design process through workshops set up and led by Arrowstreet during the programming and design stages. Students built study models of the project. Railings, bathrooms, and interior partition systems were largely installed, and in some cases designed, by program participants and graduate artists. A graduate of the program interned with Arrowstreet and the contractor, T.R. White Company, during design and construction.
To extend the teaching process, the building's systems are displayed through transparent wall and system components; in addition, the energy systems have built-in monitoring stations to teach students about system performance. And, a windowed hole in the structure shows its composition.
Sustainable Features
Sustainability was integral to the design process from the beginning, according to its designers. All building systems were designed simultaneously to optimize energy efficiency, sustainability, and universal access. Sustainable features include:
Because the site drops off nine feet from the front to the back of the site, the architect was able to create a tall gallery space on the first floor that extends out into an enclosed front entry courtyard. A first-floor mezzanine connects the EpiCenter over the courtyard to street level. The second floor has high-bay workshop spaces with transparent corrugated walls that allow daylight from the north and south floor-to-ceiling windows to reach the interior work areas. The top floor, another light-filled workspace, features a mezzanine tucked under the space created by the inclined roof.
The EpiCenter has been submitted to the U.S. Green Building Council for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification at the platinum level, the highest category of sustainability a project can achieve.
The EpiCenter received both the K-12 Honor Award for Design Excellence and the Sustainable Design Award in a rare joint honors program from the Boston Society of Architects and the American Institute of Architects (AIA), New York Chapter. Winning both awards is unprecedented.
AFH, which commissioned the project, tasked the Arrowstreet architecture firm to create a building that would represent the school's educational mission of self-sufficiency, creativity, and progressive action.
"AFH told us to create a building that would be a strong and memorable presence in the South Boston area and notable within the larger context of the city of Boston," explains James P. Bachelor, Arrowstreet's chairman and also principal-in-charge for the project. "We gave them something with clear lines that is functional, strong, green -- and affordable."
A space- and energy-efficient building, the EpiCenter sits at the barren edge of a district being transformed from industrial to mixed-use. The building's steel and glass design provides a strong identity; its simple geometry and use of materials are borrowed from this industrial part of south Boston, according to its designers.
A Collaborative Process
Students and staff participated in the design process through workshops set up and led by Arrowstreet during the programming and design stages. Students built study models of the project. Railings, bathrooms, and interior partition systems were largely installed, and in some cases designed, by program participants and graduate artists. A graduate of the program interned with Arrowstreet and the contractor, T.R. White Company, during design and construction.
To extend the teaching process, the building's systems are displayed through transparent wall and system components; in addition, the energy systems have built-in monitoring stations to teach students about system performance. And, a windowed hole in the structure shows its composition.
Sustainable Features
Sustainability was integral to the design process from the beginning, according to its designers. All building systems were designed simultaneously to optimize energy efficiency, sustainability, and universal access. Sustainable features include:
- Pitched roof optimizes collection of photovoltaic (PV) energy.
- PV array mounted four feet above the roof creates an insulation shield. (The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the state’s development agency for renewable energy, funded the roof-mounted photovoltaic array with a $500,000 grant.)
- Glazing on north and south facades maximizes daylighting, optimizes heating and cooling, and obviates the need for air conditioning.
- Stainless corrugated cladding increases heat reflectivity, and has high durability, recycled content, and visual appeal in its unpainted finish. Lighting system has daylight dimming and automated controls.
- Interior walls of clear corrugated acrylic enable daylight to reach interior windowless workshops.
- New technology harvests rainwater for irrigation.
- Automobile windshields salvaged from a junkyard create an artistic, albeit quirky, railing system in the gallery’s mezzanine.
Because the site drops off nine feet from the front to the back of the site, the architect was able to create a tall gallery space on the first floor that extends out into an enclosed front entry courtyard. A first-floor mezzanine connects the EpiCenter over the courtyard to street level. The second floor has high-bay workshop spaces with transparent corrugated walls that allow daylight from the north and south floor-to-ceiling windows to reach the interior work areas. The top floor, another light-filled workspace, features a mezzanine tucked under the space created by the inclined roof.
The EpiCenter has been submitted to the U.S. Green Building Council for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification at the platinum level, the highest category of sustainability a project can achieve.
