Beverly, MA – From top to bottom and inside and out, the buildings at the Helena J. Sturnick Village at the Montserrat College of Art contain environmentally friendly materials and technologies that reduce water and energy use and limit emissions of harmful chemicals and pollutants – making it the greenest building on the campus.
The future home of 87 students, the $6.5 million, 27,000sf project was delivered on time and on budget under a design/build collaboration between Windover Construction of Manchester by the Sea and Siemasko + Verbridge Architects of Beverly.
Located in the heart of downtown Beverly, this green masterpiece, a grouping of two, three, and four story buildings, integrates the historic architectural fabric of the surrounding homes with new environmentally friendly technologies.
The green roof provides storm water retention and mitigates solar heat gain and loss, and the landscaping includes drought resistant plants that require less water.
Inside, all appliances and lighting are highly energy efficient and water use is reduced via low-flow plumbing fixtures.
Windover also used low VOC paint throughout to reduce harmful chemical emissions.
The central heating and air conditioning system, a Mitsubishi Electric CITY MULTI® VRFZ, requires minimal on-site fossil fuel to operate and takes heat out of the ambient air and depending on the season, moves it inside or out. The system uses a variable frequency compressor so it uses only the energy required to meet the demand, while achieving a precise level of comfort. The result is a highly efficient heating and cooling operation with better comfort inside.
Jim Burke, LEED AP, Project Manager with Windover Construction said a geothermal system had been considered for the project, but the return wasn’t there. “With rising energy prices, the cost to run the pumps for a geothermal system negated any savings. Switching to the Mitsubishi system also saved $200,000 in up front construction costs by not drilling the wells,” Burke noted. “In addition, the long term effect on groundwater quality and the effect of changing the thermal characteristics of the groundwater from the use of geothermal are still unknown.” Burke added
In addition to its sustainability components, the building, located in the heart of the campus, is unique in many aspects of its design. It was very important to make it, attractive, inviting, and comfortable both for the students living there, and the college community surrounding it.
Thad Seimasko, the projects architect, studied how the students live, interact, and create. The results are that the complex has many small gathering areas, both inside and out, and contains student artist studio space in the basement.
Visually the building is very pleasing. With its series of large and small colonial structures, connected with a modern steel and glass core, the building has settled well into the surrounding neighborhood, yet has the funky and creative feel you would expect at an art college.
When asked about challenges they faced during construction, Burke said site constraints were the biggest problem. Surrounded by a public library, an active college, a dense neighborhood of residential homes and the community common, Burke said, “We literally had no open space in the area for staging. That was among the reasons we chose to use modular construction for the buildings.”
This was Windover’s biggest modular construction project to date. The eight pre-fabricated pieces were constructed in Concord, N.H. last winter. Burke noted that prefabricating the building in modular sections allowed Windover to build more efficiently without the need for temporary weather enclosures and inefficient temporary heating systems.
In addition, he said it went along perfectly with the green theme as modular construction promotes a more efficient use of materials with less generation of waste.
Burke added another benefit, “Considering the density of the neighborhood, the modular construction allowed us to get the job done without a lot of noise disturbance to the surrounding homes and businesses.”
Windover faced a tight construction deadline as they had 13 months to have the project ready for this fall’s arrival of students. “We kept up a good pace. We did hit some ledge when excavating the site,” said Burke. “But we were able to do some chipping and also changed the shape of the foundation so we didn’t lose any time.” Burke also said lining up the modular pieces presented some minor challenges, but that Windover’s “intense quality monitoring” at the factory prevented any major delays from happening.
Recycling is another green theme at the Sturnick Village. Windover re-used material from the former buildings and much of the new flooring contains pre-consumer recycled and rapidly renewable content. Student suites are also outfitted with recycling bins – assuring that the green trend will continue beyond construction.
