Boston – AKF Group, LLC, of Boston, has earned a National Recognition Award for exemplary engineering achievement in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ (ACEC) 49th annual Engineering Excellence Awards for designing the building infrastructure systems for Education First’s North American headquarters in Cambridge.
The 300,000sf facility alongside the Charles River incorporates many sustainable design and energy-saving features, including high-performance building materials, energy-efficient mechanical/electrical systems, and LED lighting.
Engineers estimate that the building will consume nearly 35% less energy each year than a comparable structure using conventional infrastructure technology.
Complementing the sustainable features is an atrium with a 10-story glass “waterfall” that cascades down the façade to the building entrance and ground-floor restaurant.
The project is among 170 engineering projects throughout the nation and around the world recognized by ACEC as preeminent engineering achievements and eligible for one of the top 2015 Engineering Excellence Awards.
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Judging for the Engineering Excellence Awards—known industry-wide as the “Academy Awards of the engineering industry”—took place in February and was conducted by a panel of more than 30 engineers, architects, government officials, media members, and academics. Awards criteria include uniqueness and originality, technical innovation, social and economic value, complexity, and success in meeting goals.
Final winners, including 16 Honor Awards, eight Grand Awards and the prestigious “Grand Conceptor Award” for the year’s most outstanding overall engineering achievement, will be announced at the Engineering Excellence Awards Gala, a black-tie event to be held Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at The Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C.
