Olver Design Building and LWA Receive 2020 AIA COTE Top Ten Award

Olver Design Building and LWA Receive 2020 AIA COTE Top Ten Award

Boston, MA – May 21, 2020 – Conferred by the AIA Committee on the Environment, the COTE® Top Ten Awards is the industry’s best-known award program for sustainable design excellence. Each year, ten innovative projects are recognized for their integration of design excellence with environmental performance.*  Bringing together the previously dispersed departments of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, Architecture, and Building and Construction Technology programs, the John W. Olver Design Building is a dynamic space of exchange, collaboration, and experiment, celebrating a shared commitment to sustainability. The first, and at the time, the largest, cross-laminated timber (CLT) academic structure in the US, the LEED Gold project demonstrates emerging technologies of mass timber as a renewable construction resource with economic and aesthetic advantages. The building’s integrated sustainability maximizes passive design impact, and engineering solutions minimize its operational energy use. Its timber structure reduces embodied energy, and the building envelope is highly-efficient, with mechanical equipment zoned for maximum efficacy. Radiant flooring and chilled beams also provide savings. Glazing and skylights maximize...
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Two NE Tree Species Can Be Used in New Sustainable Building Material

Two NE Tree Species Can Be Used in New Sustainable Building Material

UMass Amherst study tested strength of mass timber panels created from eastern white pine and eastern hemlock February 27, 2020 Contact: Peggi Clouston AMHERST, Mass. – Two tree species native to the Northeast have been found to be structurally sound for use in cross-laminated timber (CLT) – a revolutionary new type of building material with sought-after sustainability characteristics, according to research by a University of Massachusetts Amherst timber engineer. The findings, published in the Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, suggest that these trees – the eastern hemlock and eastern white pine – could support local markets for CLT. The manufacturing of CLT, a type of mass timber used for wall, floor and roof construction, could create jobs, improve rural and forestry economies and support better forestry management, which is a strategy to address climate change, the research says. “This is the future – prefabricated, panelized wood,” says lead author Peggi Clouston, professor of wood mechanics and timber engineering in the School of Earth and...
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Washington Post Article on MassTimber Features the Olver Design Building and BCT’s Research

Washington Post Article on MassTimber Features the Olver Design Building and BCT’s Research

Today, the Washington Post published an article about the rise of MassTimber buildings (which are predominantly made using glulam and cross-laminated timber). The article featured exemplary projects throughout the country with the John W. Olver Design Building at UMass as a prominent example. BCT's research into Eastern Hemlock CLT is being described in the article through interviews with Prof. Peggi Clouston and Conrado Araujo, a BCT undergrad student who has been involved in this research for the past year. Forget the log cabin. Wood buildings are climbing skyward — with pluses for the planet – Washington Post (12/12/2019)...
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Ezra Small speaks about UMass Amherst’s sustainability efforts

Ezra Small speaks about UMass Amherst’s sustainability efforts

The first lecture of our spring BCT seminar series was given by Ezra Small, who holds the title of Campus Sustainability Manager at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. In his engaged presentation, Ezra outlined the various efforts that UMass is undertaking to improve food supply, reduce waste, promote green building and reduce energy consumption, and support climate- and carbon-goals of the university and the state. Synopsis Mr. Small’s role within Facilities & Campus Services includes implementing sustainable systems to reduce the campus environmental footprint in energy, transportation, and waste. Notable accomplishments include establishing the Sustainability, Innovation & Engagement Fund, installing the largest solar project on a college campus in New England, winning the Massachusetts Leading by Example Award for outstanding environmental and energy leadership, helping the campus win the Second Nature Climate Leadership Award, and most recently launching ValleyBike, the largest electric assist bike share program in the Americas. Links Presentation Slides Sustainable UMass Presentation Slides https://youtu.be/IiwIIfEpLdc...
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Clouston and Schreyer discuss Mass Timber on Mass Construction podcast

Clouston and Schreyer discuss Mass Timber on Mass Construction podcast

Joseph Kelly of MassConstruction.org visited BCT last week for a tour of the Olver Design Building, our award-winning home at UMass. He also brought along his microphone and taped a podcast with Professors Clouston and Schreyer about the Design Building and the current wave of new MassTimber buildings. You can listen to the podcast embedded below (just click "play") and find the complete podcast archive (and subscribe to his series) here or on iTunes. Part 1: (Direct link) Part 2: (Direct link)...
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