5 Sustainable Projects Celebrating Climate Week 2020
In honor of Climate Week 2020, we’re highlighting some of the United States’ most exciting engineering projects that focus on sustainability. See below for a look at a few of our global projects that continue to push the boundaries of what engineering can realize.
1. Santa Monica City Hall East
Santa Monica City Hall East is the first completed municipal building to seek full Living Building Challenge certification. Teamed with Fredrick Fisher & Partners, Buro Happold provided sustainability,
MEP engineering, facades engineering and lighting design services on this project.
On track for Living Building Challenge certification, the Santa Monica City Hall East project includes a solar power array on the roof, composting toilets and greywater reuse for net-zero water, radiant cooling/heating, high-performance glazing, natural ventilation, and phase-change insulating materials, among other sustainable attributes. The building was named one of the world’s most sustainable municipal buildings in Green Building & Design magazine as well as “One of America’s Greenest City Hall Buildings” in Architectural Digest.
2. Battery Park City Sustainability Plan
Battery Park is a neighborhood located on the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City. The Battery Park City Sustainability Plan will pave the way forward over the next 10 years as Battery Park City prioritizes sustainability and works towards a carbon neutral neighborhood.
Buro Happold and a team of specialist consultants were selected to work with Battery Park City Authority to develop that plan through three documents. The Sustainability Plan set the vision and built out a 10-year plan for sustainability in Battery Park City, the Green Guidelines provide best practices on how sustainability interventions are realized, and the Sustainability Implementation Plan details specific implementation steps to achieve sustainability milestones and targets.
The Battery Park City Sustainability Plan will guide efforts toward a carbon neutral Battery Park City by 2050 – with more green space, less energy and water use, multi-modal shared streets, and more – helping to shape a healthier and more sustainable future for Battery Park City and New York City at large!
Find out more about the what the plans entail below.
3. 201 Hampden Street CLT Project
Buro Happold is leading the structural engineering on a new carbon neutral, cross-laminated timber (CLT) residential building on 201 Hampden Street in Boston.
We have teamed with design firms Generate and Placetailor on this five-story structure, designed to Passive House standards. Sustainability is at the forefront of this project, aiming for net-zero carbon emissions. CLT eliminates most of the greenhouse-gas emissions associated with standard building materials.
The project utilizes Generate’s Model-C System, designed as a sustainable solution for mid-rise, rapidly-assembled urban housing. This is expected to be one of the most sustainable building systems in the United States, tackling both operational and embodied energies, with the capacity of going up to 12 stories, in compliance with the new Tallwood codes.
Read more about this energy-efficient, timber building below!
4. Los Angeles County Vulnerability Assessment
With the County of Los Angeles Vulnerability Assessment, Buro Happold is leading a team to proactively identify the people, places, and systems most vulnerable to escalating climate change impacts.
This comprehensive study is valuable for the County and its 88 cities, looking at not only the populations that are vulnerable due to factors such as age, income level, or pre-existing health conditions, for example, but also hazards to the physical infrastructure and ways to engage a wide array of stakeholders in taking needed action.
5. LA Countywide Sustainability Plan
Buro Happold led the development of the first-ever Countywide Sustainability Plan for Los Angeles County. A key initiative of the Los Angeles County Chief Sustainability Office, the comprehensive plan leverages critical resources and systems across the county, the largest and most complex county in the United States with over 10 million residents and 88 incorporated cities.
Over the 18-month effort, Buro Happold in partnership with the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) worked closely with civic leadership and community stakeholders to develop an inclusive vision and actionable roadmap for a healthy and vital region.
The new plan comprehensively considers a county-level resources and services including water, energy, land-use, transportation, public health, economic development, and housing through the lenses of equity and resilience. Informed by stakeholder and community engagement as well as robust data analysis, the plan outlines integrated strategies that leverage resources across the county. While several of the 88 cities in Los Angeles County have completed independent sustainability plans, the County-wide initiative seeks to catalyse and support the development of additional sustainable city efforts, though better integration, communication and cooperation.
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