Leers Weinzapfel Associates | Architecture + Urban Design

ARCHITECTURE & URBAN DESIGN

LEERS WEINZAPFEL ASSOCIATES

John W. Olver Design Building, UMass Amherst

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION CAMPUS WORK SUSTAINABLE DESIGN LEADERSHIP EQUITY LEADERSHIP

INTRODUCTION

LEERS WEINZAPFEL ASSOCIATES Established in 1982, Boston-based Leers Weinzapfel Associates is a practice recognized for its exceptional quality of design for the public realm in complex urban and campus contexts. The group’s special strength is a “mission impossible” ability to meet extraordinarily difficult building challenges with uncommon design clarity, elegance, and refinement.

From the beginning, our work has been intentionally public in nature and attitude. We are committed to providing meaningful spaces for human interaction and to promoting social wellbeing. Our goal is to create bold and refined architecture for the educational realm. Work of the firm encompasses a diversity of project types, from technically demanding infrastructure installations and advanced learning and living environments for educational institutions, to prominent civic buildings and economical community recreation centers. Underlying each design concept is a clear commitment to the wise use of resources and a sustainable future. Leers Weinzapfel is an adopter of the AIA 2030 Commitment that evaluates the impact design decisions have on a project’s energy performance with the goal to reach net zero design by 2030.

In 2007, the American Institute of Architects honored us with the Firm Award, the highest distinction the AIA bestows on an architecture practice, the first woman-owned firm to be so honored. Since 2015 ARCHITECT Magazine included the firm on its annual list of Top 50 architecture firms in the country.

Massachusetts Certified WBE 75 Kneeland Street Boston, MA 02111

OUR CORE VALUES

Invested in a sustainable future UMass Amherst Design Building

Focused on the human experience

Grounded in place

Salem State Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts

Devoted to the art of building

Wentworth Institute of Technology Center for Engineering, Innovation & Sciences

Inspired by a tailor-made process

West End House Boys & Girls Club Allston, MA

UMass Amherst Design Building

University of Pennsylvania Gateway Complex

John W. Olver Design Building, UMass Amherst

CAMPUS WORK UMASS AMHERST JOHN W. OLVER DESIGN BUILDING WENTWORTH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CENTER FOR ENGINEERING, INNOVATION AND SCIENCES MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL MUSEUM OF MEDICAL HISTORY AND INNOVATION UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS ADOHI HALL UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT LAUREL AND OAK HALLS

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

JOHN W. OLVER DESIGN BUILDING Amherst, MA

Exterior at dusk illuminating the Mass Timber structure

Mass AerialTimber View Truss Detail

PROJECT TYPE / New Construction SIZE / 87,000 gsf STATUS / Completed January 2017 KEY PERSONNEL / Tom Chung, FAIA Andrea Leers, FAIA SUSTAINABILITY / LEED GOLD Biodiversity Dark skies Soil conservation Habitat conservation, flora/fauna Abatement of specific regional environmental concerns

AIA 2030 Commitment PEUI: 54.30 67.09 % energy reduction SELECTED AWARDS / AIA COTE Top Ten Award 2020 AIA New England Merit Award 2019 BSA Sustainable Design Honor Award 2018 BSA Interiors Award 2018 Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award 2018 Chicago Athenaeum, Green Good Design Award 2018 Wall Street Journal Best Architecture of 2017 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS / World Architecture News 06/01/20 Building Design + Construction 05/26/20, 4/2017 The Architect’s Newspaper 05/26/20, 5/2016

Bringing together multiple departments, the John W. Olver Design Building is a dynamic space of exchange, collaboration and experimentation, and the embodiment of a shared commitment to sustainability.

East entry view with context

Studios, offices, classrooms, seminar rooms, woodshops, and fabrication labs all have a presence in the commons.

Anchored by the mass timber zipper truss, a two story commons provides flexible event space for social and formal gatherings and presentations. Front and center at the ground level are state of the art research facilities including the Wood Research & Testing Lab, Digital Fabrication Lab, Wood Shop and Materials Storage and Work Yard.

An innovative mass timber structure showcases wood as a renewable and sustainable resource. Its low carbon footprint is critical to ensuring a building with low embodied energy. The building is also a highly visible demonstration of sustainable design practices. It is the first large-scale cross laminated timber (CLT) academic building in the US. The design strengthens the cross-campus pedestrian movement that connects the academic core to the west with the student dorms to the east, while also encouraging passage through the building by connecting its east and west entries with the central Commons. Taking advantage of the sloping site, the building’s taller four-story west front faces the monumental 1970’s concrete building context while the lower three-story east front faces the informal, smaller scale of the historic part of campus. A sustainable landscape design mitigates site water with native plantings and bioswales while creating welcoming entry plazas that are universally accessible.

The Design Building is LEED Gold Certified and received AIA COTE Top Ten Award in 2020.

Section Perspective

The rooftop courtyard is inspired by placemaking and the hilltop ecologies of Western Massachusetts.

Upper Level Studio Space

For architects, their true skill set is to pull every square inch and throw it at the question. That’s what I try to teach my students—spatial intelligence. Our architects collected every extra square foot that they could to create common spaces that met our highest aspirations. Every time I walk by here, that’s what I think about. Now those spaces are filled all day, every day. When I walked in the building the first day and saw students sitting on this ledge here talking, I practically cried. “ — Caryn Brause, Assistant Professor, Architecture

WENTWORTH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

CENTER FOR ENGINEERING, INNOVATION AND SCIENCES Boston, MA

S

Exterior view and pedestrian passage

Connection to the Campus Quad.

PROJECT TYPE / New Construction SIZE / 75,000 gsf STATUS / Completed 2019 KEY PERSONNEL / Tom Chung, FAIA Andrea Leers, FAIA SUSTAINABILITY / LEED SILVER Certifiable Low Flow Efficient Flume Hoods LED Lighting wtih occupancy sensors Sun shades on East & West Glazed Facades Perforated sun shading on south facade Photo Voltaic System

Above-code Insulation at walls and roof Radiant Heating & Cooling AIA 2030 Commitment PEUI: 212.00 16.21% energy reduction SELECTED AWARDS / Chicago Athenaum American Architecture Award 2020 AIA New England Design Citation 2019 ENR New England’s 2019 Best Projects IFMA Boston Awards of Excellence 2019 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS / College Planning and Management, 9/2019 World Architecture News BD+CU New Skin and Bones, 8/2019

The Center for Engineering, Innovation & Sciences (CEIS) connects campus and city to foster exchange, collaboration, and experimentation, in state-of-the-art science and digital fabrication spaces.

Section perspective

Ground Floor Lobby forum doubles as the campus social space.

Entry lobby gathering space

The Center pioneers the next evolution in multidisciplinary science studies by integrating state-of-the-art academic and research space within a campus enhancing new building designed for students today and tomorrow. It brings Wentworth’s engineering, innovation and science programs under one roof with a highly transparent glazed ground floor that engages the public’s interest and draws them into the central lobby. The lobby radiates accommodates a wide range of functions including informal study and small group meetings as well as evening events and weekend symposiums. The Institute’s innovation thinktank “Accelerate” anchors the west side facing “the Quad” bringing vibrant energy and collaboration among the university, business leaders and the entrepreneurial community.

The building is a visible demonstration of sustainable design and resilience. Its compact footprint and internal support core maximizes daylight to perimeter offices and laboratories while minimizing exterior surface area for reduced operational energy. The ground floor is elevated above flood level while maintaining universal access and all critical systems are protected with minimal basement.

The building exceeds the City of Boston’s progressive requirements of sustainability with a highly-efficient thermal envelope, integrated shading and laboratory quality mechanical equipment designed for maximum efficiency including the use of low-flow fume hoods.

The building is LEED Silver Certifiable under LEED v.4.

Upper level gathering space

Main upper level collaboration space connects the top two floors of the Center with generous daylight.

“Our core values embrace a culture of innovation and creativity as well as transformational educational experiences.

The new Center for Engineering, Innovation and Sciences is the embodiment of the mission goals.”

— David A. Wahlstrom Vice President for Business, Wentworth Institute of Technology

MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL

MUSEUM OF MEDICAL HISTORY AND INNOVATION Boston, MA

Exterior at dusk, A highly visible gateway to the MGH downtown Boston campus

the building’s gleaming copper and glass façade spans a city block, identifying the main entrance to the hospital with a large presence.

PROJECT TYPE / New Construction SIZE / 12,270 gsf STATUS / Completed 2012 KEY PERSONNEL / Tom Chung, FAIA Andrea Leers, FAIA Kevin Bell, AIA` SUSTAINABILITY / Green roof Stormwater Management Daylighting High performance exterior envelope High recycled content exterior copper siding

SELECTED AWARDS / DNA Design Awards Paris, Honorable Mention 2019 Chicago Athenaeum - American Architecture Award 2014 AIA New England Honor Award, 2013 Boston Preservation Alliance / Preservation Achievement Award for Construction in Harmony with Boston’s Built Environment, 2012 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS / Architectural Record 08/16/2012 ArchDaily 06/21/2012 Architecture Week 05/23/2012 Healthcare Design 11/16/2012 Boston Globe 10/19/2013 BBC News 09/26/2012 Harvard Magazine 12/2012

Providing a welcoming and highly visible gateway to the MGH downtown Boston campus, the new Museum of Medical History and Innovation showcases a 200 year history of medical innovation and the hospital’s place in the community.

Model

Roof garden with views to the city

Built on a tiny sliver site, the building’s gleaming copper and glass façade spans a city block, identifying the main entrance to the hospital with a large presence. A series of spaces, each with its own identity, are stacked to make a tall three- story volume in its highly visible location.The fully glazed ground floor exhibition space draw visitors in and engages the building with the public and the neighborhood. The second floor houses a flexible meeting, assembly, and reception space for hospital seminars and events overlooking the entry and gallery below.

The pergola covered roof garden provides a contemplative space for the Hospital, patients, visitors and neighbors, and dramatic views over downtown Boston and Beacon Hill.

The exterior metal skin, fabricated of recycled copper, provides a durable, maintenance-free enclosure which will age in color gracefully with time. Copper-colored fritted glazing provides insulation and shading, yet allows natural daylight to penetrate the building.

The green roof, as well as pervious site paving and plantings, absorb storm water and reduce the heat island effect.

Second floor gathering space

First Level Exhibit Space

“The Russell Museum is a symbol of the hospital’s educational mission. It is designed to be a cultural and educational portal.

Through the lens of the MGH, the museum aims to tell the story of the evolution of medicine and the innovations under way today that will shape the practice of medicine in the future. This museum also stands as a distinctive front door to MGH, welcoming patients, families, staff, and the community and the public to come in, learn, be inspired, and enjoy.”

— Peter Slavin, MD, President of Massachusetts General Hospital

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

ADOHI HALL Fayetteville, AR

The name of the new complex – “Adohi,” a Cherokee phrase meaning “coming into the forest” – recognizes the enduring importance of wood and sustainable forestry to the region.

Adohi Hall’s live-learn community features rehearsal hall sitting steps with repurposed CLT skid benches, organizing a dialogue between interior and exterior.

PROJECT TYPE / New Construction SIZE / 202,000 gsf STATUS / Completed 2019 KEY PERSONNEL / Andrea Leers, FAIA Tom Chung, FAIA Ashley Rao, AIA SUSTAINABILITY / LEED SILVER Green roof stormwater management soil conservation glazing radiant heating and cooling heat recovery high R-value walls low albedo roof surfaces AIA 2030 Commitment PEUI: 50.60 43.78 % energy reduction

SELECTED AWARDS / AIA National Housing Award, 2021 BSA Sustainability Award, 2021 BSA Housing Award, 2021 Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award, 2021 WAF Award Shortlist for Housing and Best of Use of Certified Timber, 2021 AIA Gulf States Region Merit Award –New Construction, 2020 AIA St Louis Design Honor Award, 2020 AIA Arkansas Honor Award, 2020 Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design –Residential, 2020 Wood Design & Building Honor Award, 2020 WoodWorks Multi-Family Wood DesignAward, 2020 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS / BD+C (12.6.19) Archinect (12.2.19) Fast Company (11.27.19) The Architects NewsPaper (11.25.19) HighProfile (11.12.19) Architectural Record (11/12/19) ArchDaily (1/24/18)

Adohi Hall creates a new residential college with emphasis on a creative live learn environment within a relaxed, informal, tree-lined landscape that reconceptualizes university housing.

Aerial view

A bioretention basin is nestled within a grove off preserved old-growth oaks

At more than 202,000 square feet and housing nearly 700 students, the facilities are a bold demonstration of sustainability with clear ties to the importance of forestry to the region. Equally important for its use of cross-laminated timber and its approach to live-learn spaces, Adohi Hall is a pioneering venture for both the university and the state of Arkansas.

With a wide range of spaces shaped by wood - from student rooms, to quiet study lounges, to active learning work spaces and social communal spacesAdohi Hall integrates the biophilic benefits of this natural, renewable material to shape the lives and enhance the education of students from the very private to the most public settings. At the ground floor, the Creative Community spaces – a series of gathering areas, maker spaces, dance studios and performance areas -- cascade down the hill, with direct physical and visual connections to the outdoor courtyards.

Outdoor areas invite activity and engagement, from the hammock grove in the northern courtyard, to the loose seating that spills out into the terraces around the central cabin social space, to the informal native beam stone.

Study rooms

Paths under student rooms

Completed in August 2019, it is the largest cross laminated mass timber building to date (202,000sf), and the first large-scale mass timber university housing in the US.

Student Maker Space on the First Level

“The innovative design and materials demonstrated the university’s commitment to environmental sustainability and to the potentials of value-added responsible economic development for the state’s primary natural resource. The state of Arkansas has over 19 million acres of forest making more than half of the state forested. In 2011, 64,789 jobs in the state where related to the forest products industry.”

— Florence Johnson, Assistant Vice-Chancellor, University Housing

MOS VOLORE VELLAM UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT

UT FUGA. NAM LAUREL AND VOLUPIE NDELESTE OAK HALLS PLAM NOS EA Storrs, CT Nis recus ma sintus aliquunt.

Oak Hall Entry and Student Passage

Pedestrian passage connecting Oak and Laurel Hall

PROJECT TYPE / New Construction SIZE / Laurel: 67,000 gsf Oak:125,000 gsf STATUS / Completed 2012 and 2013 KEY PERSONNEL / Tom Chung, FAIA Andrea Leers, FAIA Kevin Bell, AIA

Site plan

SUSTAINABILITY / LEED GOLD Bioswales Native planting High performance envelope

including SRI-compliant roof Recycled copper façade Reuse of sub-slab drainage for irrigation Green roof on lower volume AWARDS / AIA New England Design Awards, Merit Copper in Architecture 2015 AIA Connecticut, Honor Award, 2013 BSA Education Honor Award, 2013 BSLA Merit Award, 2013 CTGBC Honor Award, Institutional, 2012 The Chicago Athenaeum /American Architecture Award, 2012 PUBLICATIONS / Design New England 3/14 College Planning & Managment 4/13 ArchDaily 3/13

Designed as an ensemble, Oak & Laurel Halls create a dense campus center and reinforce the central pedestrian crossroads of Fairfield and Academic Way. Together, the two buildings constitute a new home for the social science departmental offices and teaching spaces.

Model

Main Stairs of Laurel Hall

Both buildings push into Fairfield way ever so slightly to make the former street a more intimate pedestrian walk. Together, the two new buildings resonate with each other, bringing the vitality of intensively used learning space to the center of campus while creating memorable new landscape spaces.

Oak Hall’s L-shaped brick volumes, intersected by a connector on the top three departmental floors maximize perimeter office space and create two copper-lined interconnected courtyards with the regular inclusion of lounge and informal meeting areas throughout the building to breakdown physical barriers to interactions and encourage interdepartmental encounters. Students and faculty meet together in sunlit tutorial spaces and in comfortable chairs on the copper bridge that connects the north and south wings.

Laurel Hall houses the campus main teaching spaces including two large auditoriums. An interior street provides generous waiting areas during class exchange and a direct pathway from student union to the campus main library.

Aerial view overlooking Laurel Hall

Laurel Hall

“The project successfully fulfilled the early program intention by providing 40 high-tech general Registrar classrooms and by maximizing the remaining space for Humanities and Social Sciences departments to the degree that could be provided within the fixed budget.

Feedback from faculty, staff, students and administration has been very positive.”

— Brian Gore PE, Director of Project & Program Management, University of Connecticut

Anonymous Hall, Dartmouth College

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN LEADERSHIP

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Adopters of the AIA 2030 Commitment

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AIA 2020 COTE Top Ten Award

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Pioneering Use of Mass Timber for Campus Buildings

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First Higher-Ed CLT building in the Northeast US

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Largest Cross Laminated Timber Building in the U.S.

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1st LEED Gold Certified building for Harvard University

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1st LEED Gold Certified new building for UCONN

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1st LEED Gold Certified building for the City of Boston

LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE The new Davis Center at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, is leading campus-wide efforts to build an inclusive community on its grounds. Dedicated to advancing broad campus engagement with complex issues of identity, history, and cultures as they affect intellectual, creative and social live, the sustainable Center’s enhanced physical space and intellectual and social programming will serve students, faculty, staff, and the broader college community alike.

AIA 2030 Commitment PEUI: 33.00 80% Energy Reduction

Leers Weinzapfel Associates, in collaboration with J. Garland Enterprises, is expanding the current Center to 26,350 sf with a major new addition as well comprehensive renovations of the adjacent 19th-century Rice and Jenness Houses, which currently house the Black Student Union and Multicultural Center. The resulting facility will feature universal access and increased space to accommodate Minority Coalition (MinCo) student gatherings, meetings, dialogue, classes, socializing, studying, and programming. Collectively, the new Davis Center will welcome everyone, with a particular focus on those from historically underrepresented identities.

GEOTHERMAL The geothermal heating and cooling system was a keystone for the Harvard University Library Services project. Aside from the energy efficiency and life cycle costing advantages, this system addressed community and Cambridge Historical Commission concerns regarding noisy rooftop equipment. Geothermal wells, the use of ground source heat pumps, variable speed drives, energy efficient lighting, and low-e glazing in the windows and curtain wall resulted in a building that is designed to be 32% more efficient than an ASHRAE 90.1-1999 compliant building. Heating and cooling is provided by a ground source water to water heat pump system.

The plant is located in the basement and includes five heart pumps that can operate in cooling or heating mode. The geothermal wells tempered the water in the system easing theenergy requirement to bring the water to temperature while also proving to be effective alternate to a cooling tower.

NEAR NET ZERO

ROOF IS 230% BETTER THAN CODE WALL IS 200% BETTER THAN CODE

In a cold climate, Anonymous Hall at Dartmouth College is a near net-zero building for faculty offices, a café and administration. Contributing to the efficient design are a third party solar canopy covering a roof terrace, very high R value walls and an advanced curtain wall- triple paned glass with expanded metal inserted for solar protection making it the most advanced glass wall we have designed or observed in the United States.

Other new buildings on campus have averaged an Energy Use Index of 75 BTU/sf/yr. This building has a projected EUI of 9 BTU/sf/yr.

Sustainability Section

GLASS IS 250% BETTER THAN CODE

Dartmouth College Anonymous Hall

MASS TIMBER PIONEERS At the University of Massachusetts John W. Olver Design Building, AIA COTE Award Top 2020 winner, we developed the first major academic building built from mass timber, a new technology that allows for long floor spans and larger buildings to be able to be built with a wood structure. Wood has half the embodied energy of steel and one quarter the embodied energy of concrete making it a viable alternative for the construction industry. With the carbon sequestration properties of wood, the Design Building removes 2,681 metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere. Comprehensive life cycle analysis by the Athena Institute evaluated the complete energy used by the building – production, transportation, construction, maintenance and demolition – and found mass timber construction reduced carbon emissions by 13%, CFCs by 10% and non-renewable energy use by 15% compared to conventional construction.

Cross bracing at John W. Olver Design Building

AIA COTE Award Top 2020, LEED GOLD Certified AIA 2030 Commitment PEUI: 54.30 67.09 % energy reduction

Construction detail at Adohi Hall

University of Pennsylvania Gateway Complex

ENERGY AND RESILIENCE Design quality begins with understanding the context.

Harvard University’s the new District Energy Facility was originally conceived as means of enhancing resilience across the expanded Harvard Allston campus. The Boston region is vulnerable to sea level rise and storm surge flooding; a climate resiliency pilot study revealed future flooding would pose significant risk to basement mechanical equipment.

By centralizing campus heating and cooling into the DEF and raising the systems 3-4 feet above grade, the entire campus is better able to withstand future storm surges.

As the first operational building on the new Allston campus, DEF carries the responsibility of high standard of quality, design, and sustainable practice.

Occupying a previously deserted railyard, the project introduces native vegetation and water management to activate the area’s biodiversity and minimize stormwater runoff. Resiliency, flexibility and innovation are key goals for the design to transition to a fossilfuel-free future, withstand climate impacts including stor`m surge flooding, and provide a reliable, resilient source of heating, cooling, and electricity to the buildings on the Allston campus. A thermal energy storage tank with a 13,400 ton-hour capacity permits off-peak energy use for chilled water generation with significant cost savings.

HOT WATER FOR HEAT

HOT WATER FOR HEAT

CHILLED WATER

CHILLED WATER

ELECTRICITY

ELECTRICITY

SECTION LOOKING SOUTH TYPICAL

Harvard University District Energy Facility Allston, MA DEF - AIA 2030 Commitment PEUI: 16.30 75.30 % energy reduction

PEOPLE

EQUITY LEADERSHIP

A COMMITMENT TO EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION IN OUR PRACTICE We take great pride in the diversity of our practice.

Leers Weinzapfel Associates is a majority womenowned firm, created in 1981 by founding principals Andrea Leers and Jane Weinzapfel and later joined

by Principals Josiah Stevenson and Tom Chung. With architectural staff from around the world, there is a more vibrant interchange of ideas with an infusion of diverse viewpoints and fluidity of approaches.

First woman-owned firm to be recognized for the American Institute of Architects Firm Award, in 2007 Percentage of Minority Percentage of White

64% Women

43%

Minority Ethnicities

36%

Men

ADVOCACY BEYOND OUR PRACTICE We are designers, advocates, and educators.

Our built work extends opportunity and support to those who may need it most. Since 1995, we have worked with the Boys & Girls Club of Boston to provide enriching community spaces throughout underserved areas of the city. Our pro-bono work further extends to Steps Academy Africa and Small Steps for Compassion Orphanage. Our support for equity, diversity & inclusion extends beyond our office. LWA was an early support of Girl UNinterrupted, a national research and advocacy project that promotes gender equity within the architecture profession.

Equity, diversity and inclusion are intrinsic to our practice. This translates directly to a collaborative relationship with our clients as well. For us, inclusion also means a collaborative work style with our client and the approach that together we can create something that is greater than designing alone.

Co-founders of Girl UNinterrupted Juliet Chun and Zhanina Boyadzhieva present their research and findings on equity in the workplace, 2018

Co-founders of Girl UNinterrupted Juliet Chun and Zhanina Boyadzhieva receive the Tribune Award at the Beverly Willis Leadership Awards Gala, 2019

Pro Bono Tanzania Project, 2017

LEERS WEINZAPFEL ASSOCIATES Architecture + Urban Design

75 Kneeland Street, Suite 301 Boston, Massachusetts 02111 617 423 5711 lwa-architects.com

University of Connecticut Oak Hall