Boston – The Ink Block project taking place at 300 Harrison Ave. in Boston’s South End was formerly home to the Boston Herald newspaper printing facilities — hence the name Ink Block. When completed, this green living community will include five residential buildings and some mixed-use including a Whole Foods Market. A hotel is also scheduled to be constructed as part of this community at some point.
National Development has created a community that encourages the use of green transportation. Located walking distance from several public transportation stops, including the Red, Orange and Silver lines, this community can also be found within proximity of several public bus routes. In addition, there are Zipcars located onsite in the parking garage, there is a Hubway bike-sharing station located adjacent to the site, and bike racks and bike storage are provided. For green drivers, Ink Block also offers parking spaces and charging stations for low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles.
It’s probably no surprise that this is a “no smoking” community, but what may be a surprise are the details the sustainability team, AHA Consulting Engineers, took to make this a high-quality indoor environment for its occupants, collaborating with the architectural team to make sure that the selected materials for flooring, paint, and interior furnishings are low-emitting materials.
The design team also paid special attention to thermal comfort and placement of windows for ideal aesthetic views, capturing maximum natural light. The MEP/FP engineering team from AHA Consulting Engineers selected high-efficiency heating, air conditioning, and ventilation systems to reduce energy consumption while providing thermal comfort for occupants.
A central energy recovery unit was installed for corridor and toilet exhaust ventilation, and high-efficiency water source heat pumps have been installed in all residential units and common areas. It is estimated that, on average, buildings will use 30% less energy compared with AHSRAE 90.1-2007 baseline.
Low-flush and low-flow plumbing fixtures have been installed in all of the properties, leading to potable water use reduction of 35% or more; but perhaps one of the best energy-efficient solutions for this project came from a combined effort between one of AHA’s senior partners, Dan Campia, Whole Foods’ sustainability team, and National Development. They engineered a shared condenser water loop between the residential heat pumps in order to capture the waste heat from the supermarket refrigeration system. The heat generated from the refrigeration system will heat up the circulating condenser water. Preliminary energy analysis showed that this heat is significant enough that the residential hot water boilers will barely be used. Ink Block is truly a team collaboration of passion and commitment to pursue the LEED certification in every stage of this sustainable community project.
All buildings are either under the final review for or targeting for LEED v2009 Gold certification.
