Labs recognized for design excellence In yet another sign that quality architecture is an increasingly important aspect of lab design, two lab buildings have received awards in the prestigious annual design competition sponsored by the American Institute of Architects. The Meinel Optical Sciences Building at the Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, was one of 11 facilities to receive an Honor Award. The lab was designed by Richärd & Bauer Architecture LLC, Phoenix, which was also responsible for Arizona State Univ.’s Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 2, winner of High Honors in the R&D Magazine 2006 Laboratory of the Year competition. (Contract magazine recently honored the ISTB 2 project for excellence in the Environmental Design category of its Interior Awards program, as well as citing partners Jim Richärd and Kelly Bauer as Designers of the Year.) The second lab receiving an AIA Honor Award was the Univ. of Michigan’s Biomedical Science Research Building, Ann Arbor, designed by Polshek Partnership Architects LLP, New York City, with lab planning by Jacobs Consultancy/GPR, Tarrytown, N.Y. The university’s Life Sciences Institute, also in Ann Arbor, also received an honorable mention in the ASHRAE Technology Awards competition, recognizing achievement in the areas of occupant comfort, indoor air quality, and energy conservation. SmithGroup Inc., Detroit, was the designer. For more: www.aia.org/release_011207_honoraward and www.ashrae.com. Toronto labs generate buzz R&D facilities were cited for excellence in several end-of-year architectural retrospectives by major newspapers in Toronto. Christopher Hume, architecture critic for the Toronto Star, singled out two projects at the Univ. of Toronto as “superb”: the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomedical Research, and the Leslie Dan Pharmacy Building. Kevin Browne of the National Post also applauded the Dan and Donnelly buildings, which were designed by Foster and Partners, London, and by Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner, Stuttgart, Germany, respectively. For more: www.thestar.com/News/article/165919 and http://tinyurl.com/2945gc. Beantown goes green Hot on the heels of Washington, D.C.’s ordinance mandating sustainable design for new construction (see January, page 2) comes news of a similar ruling in Boston. The “green” standards, which will require new buildings to achieve at least 26 points under LEED-NC, will become part of the city zoning laws, affecting private projects of 50,000 ft2 or more. Though the points requirement matches the “Certified” level under LEED, actual LEED participation will not be mandated. Additional points to be addressed by designs include city priorities in the areas of transportation, energy, historic preservation, and groundwater. A timeframe for implementation is still being hammered out by the city’s Zoning Board, which approved the plan in early January. For more: www.aia.org/angle_nwsltr_current#Boston. McGill Univ. to transform med center McGill Univ. Health Centre has announced plans to create a new 43-acre campus on a former brownfield site in Montreal. The $1.6 billion development plan will also include upgrades and consolidations at MUHC’s existing Mountain Campus at Montreal General Hospital. Phase 1 at the new Glen Campus will be a children’s hospital, a Shriner’s Hospital, and ambulatory care facilities, with a research building scheduled for completion by 2010. A consortium of designers consulting on the entire redevelopment plan includes McGill graduate Moshe Safdie of the internationally active firm Moshe Safdie and Associates; Perkins+Will Canada; and Montreal firms Les architectes Lemay et associes, Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et associes architectes, Andre Ibghy Architectes, and Menkes Shooner Dagenais Letourneux Architectes. For more: www.muhc.ca/media/news/?ItemID=22787. Maryland community plans research park Frederick County, Md., has approved construction of the new Jefferson Technology Park, a 173-acre mixed-use development including commercial, residential, recreational, and civic/cultural facilities. The plan aims to create some 7,000 new jobs in the Washington, D.C., exurb, providing about 1.4 million ft2 of commercial space. Projected facilities include offices, research flex space, combined work/live units, and a conference center/hotel. About 125,000 ft2 of retail space and 825 housing units are also planned, with housing likely to be the first part of the development. The developer, Jefferson Park Development, will upgrade road infrastructure and build an addition to a local middle school to accommodate a potential influx of families. For more: www.gazette.net/stories/102606/frednew192112_31953.shtml. Ontario tech education expands A new purpose-built campus, the Univ. of Ontario Institute of Technology, is now rising on a 400-acre site adjacent to Durham College in Oshawa. Initially launched in 2003, the multi-phase project should be built out by 2010, consisting of a six-building quad. Facilities include a classroom/lab building, a physics and chemistry lab building, a residence hall, and a library. Ultimately the campus should accommodate some 6,500 students. Diamond + Schmitt Architects Inc. of Toronto is the designer, with EllisDon as construction manager. For more: www.uoit.ca/index.html. ASHRAE ponders water standard ASHRAE, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, is considering a new standard that would address the amount of water used to operate HVAC, plumbing, and irrigation systems. The proposed standard, “Conservation of Water Use in Building, Site, and Mechanical Systems,” would provide baseline requirements for design that would minimize the volume of water needed for operations. It would not apply to stormwater management or lab process water. The standard is still in the early stages of committee work, and a final title and scope are pending. For more: www.ashrae.org/pressroom/detail/15944. Building industry groups endorse sweeping sustainability plan The American Institute of Architects, U.S. Green Building Council, and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) have formally endorsed Architecture 2030, a plan aiming to achieve rapid, radical reductions in facilities-related energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. At a special meeting during the USGBC’s Greenbuild Conference in late 2006, the groups agreed in principle to work together in achieving challenging targets. Specifically, new buildings and major renovations should aim to reduce fossil-fuel, greenhouse-gas-emitting energy consumption by 50% immediately, increasing incrementally every five years until all new buildings would be designed to be “carbon neutral” by 2030. Leaders acknowledged that the lack of a standard baseline by which reductions will be measured poses a difficulty, and adopted the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Energy Information Agency data as an interim solution. For more: www.architecture2030.org. “Green” white paper available Building Design & Construction magazine is offering a free .pdf download of its 2006 White Paper: “Green Buildings and the Bottom Line.” The publication analyzes financial aspects of sustainable construction, including the impact of “green” techniques on long-term operational costs and market value. For more: http://www.bdcnetwork.com/article/CA6390371.html?industryid=42784. Pharos illuminates materials choices Emulating the ancient Pharos Lighthouse at Alexandria, Greece, a new initiative called Project Pharos aims to shed light on the tough process of evaluating “green” construction materials. The Healthy Building Network, which bills itself as a coalition of activists, green-building professionals, and interested others, conceives Project Pharos as an online tool that would deliver comprehensive information regarding products and materials. A standardized “lens” diagram would map the items’ characteristics, including not only recycled content/ recyclability but also embodied energy content, embodied water content, animal testing, life expectancy, and other features. The initiative includes both the Pharos website and an associated Wiki community. For more: http://pharosproject.net/.