Harvard Business School’s Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center / rendering by Goody Clancy
Allston, MA – State Electric Corporation, a NECA Boston contractor headquartered in Bedford, is under way with the comprehensive electrical construction of Harvard Business School’s (HBS) Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center. The new four-story, 90,000sf executive education building will house reception space, flexible classrooms, project rooms, offices, and dining facilities.
The project is designed by architectural firm Goody Clancy Associates of Boston to achieve LEED Gold+ certification.
The project team includes architect: Goody Clancy of Boston; GC: Lee Kennedy Co., Inc. of Quincy; and EE: Vanderweil Engineers of Boston.
The Chao Center will serve as the gateway to the HBS campus for more than 10,000 executives from around the world who attend programs at the internationally acclaimed school each year. It will also serve as a hub for executive education participants, comprised of HBS MBA faculty and students.
State Electric’s scope at the Chao Center includes providing the building’s primary and emergency power systems, lighting, fire alarm, tel/data, and A/V systems. Electrical service will originate from a 15kV switchboard in the building’s basement. Provisions for a roll-up generator will be installed as a back-up to the shared main generator, which is located on the roof of the adjacent Tata Hall.
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Contemporary, energy-efficient lighting, controlled via a Lutron lighting control system, will be featured throughout the facility’s dining, meeting and classroom spaces. Custom lighting fixtures will be a focal point in entryways and the main hub area, which will include stadium seating. State Electric is also installing courtyard and walkway lighting to connect the Chao Center with the rest of the HBS campus.
The facility’s fire alarm system will be in keeping with the Harvard’s campus system fire alarm standard, and will incorporate virtually all aspects of the facility’s MEP system. Extensive Tel/Data and A/V networks will be installed throughout the facility to dynamically accommodate communications and audio-visual requirements.
State Electric is supervising a field crew ranging upwards of 18 IBEW Local 103 electricians and technicians at peak construction in the nearly two-year project, which is scheduled for completion in April 2016. The project team is headed by Project Manager Paul Higgins, Supervisor and Foreman Tom Page, and Virtual Coordinator Rocco Capalino. The State Electric team was able to complete conduit infrastructure installations in the basement structure despite extreme weather and ground conditions this past winter.
When construction is complete, a comprehensive commissioning process will be undertaken, including a site area power drop test that will assess how multiple buildings and systems respond in the event of a loss of utility power, and ensure reliability of all systems.
The Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center is funded by a gift of $40 million dollars from Dr. James Si-Cheng Chao and Family Foundation as a tribute to the late Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, the matriarch of the accomplished Chinese American family. Dr. James S.C. Chao and Ruth Mulan Chu Chao’s family is the only family in HBS history to have had four daughters attend the School. The gift was made in 2012 during the 50th anniversary celebration of the admission of women to Harvard’s two-year MBA program and the 375th anniversary of Harvard University. As part of the gift, the Chao family has also endowed the Ruth Mulan Chu and James S. C. Chao Family Fellowship Fund to outstanding students in need.
