Building for the Future

The Gilman Ordway Campus of the Woods Hole Research Center

The Woods Hole Research Center is a scientific, policy, and educational institution whose mission is to combat global warming and other forms of environmental degradation. We have a particular interest in the health and function of world forests because of their controlling influence on climate.

In 1999, with a pressing need for expanded facilities to house a growing staff, the Center employed the firm of William McDonough + Partners to design a 19,300 s.f. building that would be a model for 21st century construction in its use of energy, water, and environmentally-friendly building materials. Completed in February of 2003, the Gilman Ordway Campus was designed to provide comfort and pleasure to building inhabitants without causing harm to the immediate environment and the larger world. It is in fact, a true "building for the future."

High Performance Facility

Our primary goal in designing the building was to develop a "High Performance" facility producing more energy than it consumes, and operating without the combustion of fossil fuel, the primary contributor to global warming. We estimated that the building will need 19% of the energy required to maintain a similarly sized structure built to the state building code, or 90,000kWh annually (16,000 BTU/ft2/yr) versus 470,000 kWh annually (83,000 BTU/ft2/yr). We have developed a comprehensive monitoring system to track building performance, and after a year of occupation, we appear to be on our way to meeting our aggressive goal for optimized energy usage.

Meeting the High Performance goal requires a commitment to three crucial conservation strategies.

The building "envelope" must be tight to minimize the transfer of thermal energy
Lighting, office, and mechanical systems must be highly efficient
Natural daylight and ventilation should be optimized

Once these strategies have been implemented, it becomes possible to use renewable energy technologies to achieve a High Performance facility.