It’s official: With the April 17 signing of a 95-year ground lease, the Hitchcock Center for the Environment is relocating to the Hampshire College campus. The Hitchcock Center, which remains independent, plans to complete a new building in time for its fall 2016 programming.
Press Release Hampshire College
The Hitchcock Center for the Environment will break ground at its new site on the Hampshire campus on May 1 at 4:30 p.m. The new world-class environmental center will be designed and constructed to the world’s toughest standards for sustainable development. The 9,000 square-foot Center will be New England’s first public environmental education facility to join theLiving Building Challenge™, 20 performance standards that require buildings to be self-sufficient for energy and water and to meet strict requirements for green materials and for the quality of its indoor environment. Worldwide, fewer than ten buildings have been fully certified as living buildings. With the Hitchcock Center and Hampshire’s R.W. Kern Center, currently under construction, the College’s campus will be home to two living buildings.
Scott Merzback Daily Hampshire Gazette
Construction of the $5.8 million building that will house the Hitchcock Center for the Environment will begin with a ceremonial groundbreaking May 1 on the Hampshire College campus on West Street. The 9,000-square-foot building is expected to be New England’s first public environmental education facility to meet various standards under the Living Building Challenge, which mandates energy and water self-sufficiency and use of green materials, and will be large enough to accommodate the 11,500 children and adults participating in its environmental programs by 2020.
Press Release Hitchcock Center
On May 1, 2015, the Hitchcock Center for the Environment will break ground for a world-class environmental center designed and constructed to the world’s toughest standards for sustainable development. The 9000 square-foot Center will be New England’s first public environmental education facility to join the Living Building Challenge™, 20 performance standards that require buildings to be self-sufficient for energy and water, to meet strict requirements for green materials, and for the quality of indoor environment. Worldwide, fewer than ten buildings have been fully certified as living buildings. Speakers include Senator Stanley Rosenberg, Representative Ellen Story, Acting Commissioner Dan Burgess of the MA Department of Energy Resources, Jonathan Lash, President of Hampshire College and other community representatives.
BusinessWest
WILLIAMSTOWN — Charley Stevenson, owner of Integrated Eco Strategy (IES), a Williamstown firm that facilitates sustainable and regenerative building design, renovation, and construction, was named a 2015 Living Building Hero. The award was presented at the Living Future unConference in Seattle.
Going Green a Recorder Publication
With the advent of spring comes an opportunity to support a great organization and celebrate the great outdoors at the same time. The Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst holds a fundraising Biothon each year, an educational event that has become a tradition in the Pioneer Valley.
22News
It’s one of the highest honors in arts and entertainment in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth Awards only take place every two years, and they highlight some of the best and brightest across the state in the field of the arts.
Going Green, a Recorder Publication
The conversation was about more than simply finding a bigger home. Any new building, Johnson says, “needs to be an extension of our mission.” Given Hitchcock’s emphasis on education, the organization was determined that its expansion project not only be environmentally responsible and sustainable, but also serve as a model for a new kind of approach to building. To do that, Hitchcock’s leaders decided to take the Living Building Challenge.
Press Release Hitchcock Center
The Hitchcock Center for the Environment (HCE), in partnership with Enchanted Circle Theater (ECT), announces that on February 24, 2015 it will be receiving a prestigious 2015 Commonwealth Award. Presented every two years by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), the Commonwealth Awards shine a spotlight on the extraordinary contributions made by the arts, sciences, and humanities to education, economic vitality, and quality of life in communities across the state. The Hitchcock Center in partnership with the ECT won the award for an individual, school, or cultural organization that has successfully fused learning in the arts with science, technology, engineering, and math – STEM to STEAM (the addition of the ”A” stands for arts). The award honors a unique collaboration between Hitchcock and ECT to deepen students’ understanding of science and the arts in the Holyoke Public Schools.
Daily Hampshire Gazette
Since the green building movement took off in the United States in the past two decades, Massachusetts has become a leading state in embracing the practice of environmentally friendly, energy-‐efficient construction. And the Pioneer Valley demonstrates the success of green building in an array of residential, commercial and institutional projects.
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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