AMHERST – May 31, 2016 – Continuing its commitment to ensuring a sustainable future for Massachusetts, the Baker-Polito Administration today announced the awarding of $500,000 to the Hitchcock Center for the Environment for the construction of its living building project, which is a 9,000 square foot environmental education center that seeks to meet the “Living Building Challenge” standards. Once completed, the new center, which will become a place where students will be taught complex environmental issues, will need to meet performance standards, such as net zero energy and water, over a twelve month period prior to the education center receiving a full certification. Currently, fewer than ten buildings in the world have become fully certified.
By Jessica Schultz
In April, the deck along the Nest play area on the eastern side of the building was started and with it we began to get an even better sense of our view to Mt. Norrwotuck and the Pelham Hills. There are still many trucks and machines in the view for now, but we know that it will be a great place to view the mountain, watch the birds as our landscape grows, and to spot kestrels in flight in the field below our building.
By Jessica Schultz
In March our building became watertight.
By Jessica Schultz
While the vapor barrier was installed over the sheathing on the exterior of our building, our focus turned to the inside.
By Jessica Schultz
January saw the arrival of our Alpen windows! With the delivery came and exciting riddle for the project team and our staff. What were these balloons attached to each window?
By Jessica Schultz
By Jessica Schultz
Work on the building in November included completion of conduit work in both the North and South wings through the Ecotone connector.
By Jessica Schultz
During the month of October, work at the site picked up momentum as two items that were on order arrived, allowing installation and subsequent building steps to occur. These items included: the grey water tank and pump, as well as the black HDPE conduit for our electrical service.
By Jessica Schultz
Living Building Challenge projects like our new building are daunting to design and construct – but created to make change. To fully appreciate the magnitude of work involved in this challenge, we are committed to educating through our building – what principles of nature are replicated in our building, what materials research is required, how do our choices impact our children and future generations. Opportunities for this education have now started and we are excited to be sharing the building with our community!
By Jessica Schultz
Concrete is one of the most widely used building materials in the industry, but is commonly known to be highly energy intensive, emitting green house gases during production, processing, and transportation. So why then would we use concrete in a super-green Living Building ChallengeTM building? The short answer is that there is still no other material currently on the market that matches the durability of concrete for the life of a building as well. Invented by the ancient Romans, concrete has been used for thousands of years in various formulations, and is one of the longest lasting building products over its expected lifetime.
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Hitchcock Center for the Environment
at Hampshire College
845 West Street | Amherst MA 01002 | 413.256.6006 | 413.253.2809 fax