harvard business school aldrich hall · case study harvard business school, aldrich hall ......

LEED® Facts

Harvard Business School Aldrich Hall — Boston, MA

LEED for New Construction - Version 2.2 Certification Pending

Silver 34* Sustainable Sites 9/14 Water Efficiency 3/5 Energy and Atmosphere 4/17 Materials and Resources 2/13 Indoor Environmental Quality 11/15 Innovation and Design 5/5

*Out of a possible 69 points

Harvard │Business │School

Aldrich Hall

Case Study

Photo by: Nathan Gauthier

Study alcoves located along the perimeter of Aldrich Hall provide MBA students areas to meet. The lighting in each cove is connected to dimming ballasts controlled by photosensors.

Project Summary Aldrich Hall is a 102,825 square foot classroom serving the Harvard Business School’s MBA program. The building, originally built in 1955, completed a three phase gut renovation in September 2006. Con-struction began in May, 2004. The three stories above grade, with sup-porting areas below grade, regularly accommodate more than 1,700 stu-dents and faculty. The renovation provided an opportunity to update the technological capacity of the classrooms; including desk-integrated polling stations, individual laptop power supplies, and sophisticated au-dio visual equipment; as well as to improve the building’s lighting, heat-ing, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. Project Team Boston architects Baker Design Group were selected to lead the design team for Aldrich Hall. Baker had successfully worked with Harvard Business School (HBS) on previous projects, including the recently completed LEED® Gold certified Wyss Hall renovation. A project man-ager from William A. Berry & Sons who works full-time with HBS managed the design and construction process. Syska Hennessy Group provided mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering services. The design team also included Weidlinger Associates, Inc. structural en-gineers, Firepro Inc. fire protection engineers, and Acentech Inc. audio-visual and information technology engineers. Shawmut Design and Construction were selected as the construction managers for the project. Shawmut has worked on other HBS and Harvard projects including the LEED for Commercial Interiors Silver rated Mather / Dunster kitchen renovation, the nation’s first LEED certified institution kitchen. Har-vard Green Campus Initiative’s New Construction Program provided green building consulting services.

Case Study

Harvard Business School, Aldrich Hall

GREENING ALDRICH, GREENING THE CAMPUS

Photo by: Baker Design Group


SUSTAINABILITY Harvard Business School has made a significant commitment to reduc-ing its environmental impact and improving the health and comfort of students, faculty, staff and visitors. Prior to completing Aldrich Hall, Hamilton and Wyss Halls had used the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) green build-ing rating system to achieve Gold ratings. While Aldrich did not ini-tially target LEED certification, a comfortable and healthy indoor envi-ronment, environmentally friendly materials selection, and improved energy efficiency were project goals from the beginning. HBS con-tracted Harvard Green Campus Initiative’s (HGCI’s) New Construction Program in early 2006 to evaluate the project for LEED certification. Aldrich Hall is the first project at Harvard to utilize LEED NC version 2.2. Because of the delayed focus on LEED certification, Aldrich Hall was not eligible for many commonly achieved credits. The project was forced to pursue certification in a different manner than previous pro-jects and the effect on the HBS campus was considerable as Aldrich de-cisions began to be applied campus-wide. SITE CONDITIONS AND TRANSPORTATION The Aldrich Hall project involved the renovation of an existing building in an area with excellent access to public transportation, bicycle park-ing, and within walking distance to a number of community services. More than 50% of all pedestrian walkways are shaded by trees to re-duce the local heat island effect. The historic fixtures used throughout HBS were retrofitted to minimize uplighting and improve energy effi-ciency. A campus-wide exterior lighting master plan was adopted that addresses safety, uplighting, horizontal light trespass, and energy con-sumption. There are two hybrid ZipCars® in the primary HBS parking lot to help encourage alternatives to single occupant vehicle commuting to work. Harvard University has a CommuterChoice program that subsidizes purchases of mass transit passes, provides discounted parking for car-pools, arranges emergency rides home, issues preferred bicycle route maps, offers discounted shared-vehicle program memberships, and much more. HBS has elected to offer preferred parking campus-wide for low-emitting and fuel efficient vehicles. Vehicles that earn EPA’s SmartWay® Elite designation are provided reserved parking in areas identified by the users as being preferred.

The pedestrian paths sur-rounding Aldrich Hall are lined with shade trees. During the summer, at the hottest times of the day, more than 50% of the paths are shaded by foli-age. Additional area is shaded by the surrounding buildings.

HBS is the first school at Harvard to adopt a cam-pus-wide low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicle park-ing program. Vehicles rec-ognized as EPA SmartWay Elite are provided preferred parking. SmartWay Elite vehicles must achieve a 9 or 10 (out of 10) in both the EPA Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution scores.


Harvard │ Business │ School

Case Study

Prepared by: Nathan Gauthier, HGCI

WATER EFFICIENCY Aldrich Hall classrooms house more than 1,700 MBA or executive edu-cation students 250 days per year. By replacing 1.0 gallon per flush uri-nal valves with 0.5 gpf valves and using 0.5 gallon per minute lavatory sinks activated by infrared sensors, the building is estimated to save more than 925,000 gallons of potable water per year compared to a standard, code compliant building. Additional water is saved HBS-wide by using a RainBird Maxicom2 central controller, weather stations, and pressure regulating sprinklers. Irrigation water is controlled based on local weather and delivered without the waste associated with misting. ENERGY USE MONITORING Harvard Business School has a very pro-active facilities engineering de-partment that attends design and construction meetings for all projects. HBS reviews designs for energy efficiency and ease of operations and maintenance and participates in project punch-list activities. Recogniz-ing the benefit of additional utility submeters, HBS has added meters to Aldrich Hall and a number of other buildings, including the recent addi-tion of more than a dozen chilled water submeters. Enhanced metering and sophisticated DDC controls allow HBS to closely monitor energy use and identify opportunities for improvements. Syska Hennessy, MEP engineers for Aldrich, has created an energy model to evaluate the effectiveness of the building’s energy conservation measures. This model will be calibrated based on actual weather and utility data after a year of normal operations. The building’s energy use is dominated by student plug loads and by the substantial AV and lighting needs. ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES All classroom spaces utilize demand control ventilation to regulate out-side air intake based on carbon dioxide differentials between the indoor and outdoor environments. All systems with motors 15 horsepower or larger are equipped with variable speed drives (VFDs) to reduce elec-tricity consumption. The building utilizes VFDs for air distribution and heating and cooling hydronic distribution. Additional energy is saved through active chilled beams supplementing the forced air cooling. Chilled beams further raise the temperature of chilled water being sent back to the central plant, improving overall system efficiency. The pe-rimeter corridors of Aldrich are lined with study alcoves. Lighting in these alcoves is controlled by photosensors to reduce lighting energy.

Case Study

The Chicago Faucets lava-tory faucets used in Aldrich Hall use 0.5 gallons per minute and operate on in-frared sensors. These fau-cets are expected to save more than 670,000 gallons of water per year.

Prior to installing the Trox active chilled beams, the Aldrich Hall design and con-struction team and HBS op-erations staff evaluated a mock-up of the equipment.



Yes No Yes No

9 5 Sustainable Sites 4 9 Materials & ResourcesY Prereq 1 Construction Pollution Prevention Y Prereq 1 Collection of Recyclables1 Credit 1 Site Selection 2 1 Credit 1 Building Reuse1 Credit 2 Development Density 2 Credit 2 Construction Waste Management

1 Credit 3 Brownfield Redevelopment 2 Credit 3 Materials Reuse1 Credit 4.1 Alt. Transportation, Public Transportation 2 Credit 4 Recycled Content1 Credit 4.2 Alt. Transportation, Bicycle Storage 2 Credit 5 Regional Materials1 Credit 4.3 Alt. Transportation, Low-Emitting Vehicles 1 Credit 6 Rapidly Renewable Materials1 Credit 4.4 Alt. Transportation, Parking Capacity 1 Credit 7 Certified Wood

1 Credit 5.1 Site Development, Restore Habitat Yes No

1 Credit 5.2 Site Development, Maximize Open Space 11 4 Indoor Environmental Quality1 Credit 6.1 Stormwater Design, Quantity Control Y Prereq 1 Minimum IAQ Performance1 Credit 6.2 Stormwater Design, Quality Control Y Prereq 2 Tobacco Smoke Control

1 Credit 7.1 Heat Island Effect, Non-Roof 1 Credit 1 Outdoor Air Delivery Monitoring1 Credit 7.2 Heat Island Effect, Roof 1 Credit 2 Increased Ventilation

1 Credit 8 Light Pollution Reduction 1 Credit 3.1 IAQ Management Plan, ConstructionYes No 1 Credit 3.2 IAQ Management Plan, Occupancy2 3 Water Efficiency 1 Credit 4.1 Low-Emitting, Adhesives & Sealants

1 Credit 1.1 Efficient Landscaping, Reduce by 50% 1 Credit 4.2 Low-Emitting, Paints & Coatings1 Credit 1.2 Efficient Landscaping, No Potable Use 1 Credit 4.3 Low-Emitting, Carpet Systems1 Credit 2 Innovative Wastewater Technologies 1 Credit 4.4 Low-Emitting, Composite Wood

1 Credit 3.1 Water Use Reduction, 20% Reduction 1 Credit 5 Chemical & Pollutant Source Control1 Credit 3.2 Water Use Reduction, 30% Reduction 1 Credit 6.1 Controllability of Systems, Lighting

Yes No 1 Credit 6.2 Controllability of Systems, Thermal4 13 Energy & Atmosphere 1 Credit 7.1 Thermal Comfort, DesignY Prereq 1 Fundamental Commissioning 1 Credit 7.2 Thermal Comfort, VerificationY Prereq 2 Minimum Energy Performance 1 Credit 8.1 Daylight & Views, Daylight 75%Y Prereq 3 Fundamental Refrigerant Management 1 Credit 8.2 Daylight & Views, Views for 90%

10 Credit 1 Optimize Energy Performance Yes No

1 2 Credit 2 On-Site Renewable Energy 5 0 Innovation & Design Process1 Credit 3 Enhanced Commissioning 1 Credit 1.1 Innovation, Exemp. Perf. MR p1

1 Credit 4 Enhanced Refrigerant Management 1 Credit 1.2 Innovation, Exemp. Perf. EA c61 Credit 5 Measurement & Verification 1 Credit 1.3 Innovation, Occupant Education1 Credit 6 Green Power 1 Credit 1.4 Innovation, Green Cleaning

1 Credit 2 LEED® Accredited ProfessionalYes No

35 34 Project TotalsCertified: 26-32 points, Silver: 33-38 pointsGold: 39-51 points, Platinum: 52-69 points

LEED NC version 2.2 Scorecard

Renewable Energy HBS has installed a 36.7 kilowatt photovoltaic array on the roof of nearby Shad Hall gymnasium to produce clean electricity from the sun’s energy. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative provided grant money for a portion of the project, the rest of which was funded by the Harvard Green Campus Loan Fund. The entrance to the gymnasium has a video link to the roof and a real-time utility display showing electric-ity production. Shad Hall also produces electricity through a 75 kW combined heat and power (cogeneration) plant. Besides producing electricity on-site, HBS offsets much of its energy consumption through the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from Sterling Planet. RECs offer a means to promote renewable energy nation-wide by purchasing environmental attributes of renewable energy. HBS has purchased more than 1,000,000 kWh of RECs from wind produced electricity to offset energy use at Aldrich Hall. Materials Use As a renovation of an existing building, Aldrich Hall was able to reuse 99% of the existing building structural and envelope components. In addition, no construction or demolition waste was hauled directly to a landfill. The majority of waste was sent to mixed debris processing plants to separate out materials that could be recycled. There project also separated some materials on-site including concrete and brick, 100% of which was recycled. In total, more than 760 of the 950 tons of materials removed from the site were recycled for an 80% waste diver-sion rate. Low Emitting Materials Harvard Business School uses Benjamin Moore EcoSpec low-volatile organic compound (VOC) interior paint for all projects. This latex paint has virtually none of the toxic chemical off-gassing common in paints. The Aldrich Hall project tracked the VOC content of all adhesives and sealants and used kept VOCs well below reference standards. Carpeting was also selected to meet the off-gassing requirements of the Carpet and Rug Institutes Green Label Plus testing criteria. Aldrich Hall used Inter-face Flooring Systems and Bentley Prince Street. To further improve indoor air quality, the building was “flushed-out” prior to occupancy.

Case Study

HBS produces electricity on-site with photovoltaics and cogeneration and purchases RECs for wind energy generated off-site.

All carpet in Aldrich, in-cluding the Interface Flooring “Wind” above, pass CRI Green Label Plus air quality testing.

Photo by: HBS Stock Photo


INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY To provide a comfortable and healthy indoor environment, Aldrich Hall introduces filtered, conditioned, outside air at rates at least 30% greater than those recommended by applicable standards. The MERV 13 filtra-tion is able to remove 89 to 90% of dust particles and has been selected for use in multiple HBS buildings. Dust and other contaminants are also kept out by floor mats at all entrances. To improve occupant com-fort, all rooms have multiple lighting scenes and individual temperature controls. Verification of occupant comfort will be done by regularly surveying occupants using the built-in polling stations at each location. GREEN CLEANING HBS buildings are cleaned by UNICCO Service Company using their GreenClean® program. The program includes using Green Seal certi-fied products and equipment where appropriate, as well as proper train-ing in their use. Microfiber mops and cleaning cloths are reusable and more effective at removing dust than their disposable counterparts. Cleaning compounds are brought to the building via service tunnels when needed instead of being stored on-site. OCCUPANT EDUCATION CAMPAIGN HBS has developed two educational outreach programs focused on sus-tainable living. Graduate Green Living utilizes HBS student representa-tives compensated for their time to promote sustainability in their dor-mitories and classrooms. HBS Green Team targets staff by recruiting champions to promote sustainability amongst their co-workers. Profes-sional staff coordinate both programs by educating participants, sug-gesting topics and methods of outreach, and monitoring the programs’ progress. Aldrich Hall and other HBS green buildings are used to dem-onstrate sustainable design concepts via tours, talks, and distribution of case studies. EXEMPLARY RECYCLING RATES Through the efforts of occupant education campaigns, Harvard Recy-cling and Waste Management, and HBS Facilities, more than 48% of waste was salvaged or recycled during fiscal year ‘06. All HBS build-ings have collection sites for paper, cardboard, bottles and cans. Used computer equipment, furnishings, and other surplus supplies are sal-vaged or recycled and food waste and landscaping debris is composted.

Case Study

The Graduate Green Living program works with student representatives to promote sustainability. Activities in-clude collection of a day’s trash for “Mt. Trashmore” and waste audits to identify additional opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle.

In the last fiscal year, HBS recycled more than 182 tons of paper, 37 tons of cardboard, 28 tons of cans and bottles, 295 tons of food waste, 97 tons of sur-plus or move-out items, and 167 tons of landscaping waste. This represents a recycling rate over 48%.






Harvard │Business │School

Aldrich Hall

Case Study

Project Details Building Type: Classroom Location: Boston, MA Owner: Harvard Business School Architect: Baker Design Group MEP Engineer: Syska Hennessy Group Contractor: Shawmut Design & Construction LEED: HGCI New Construction Program Construction: May ‘04 to Sept. ‘06 Size: 102,825 square feet Occupants: 1,783 students + faculty

33% reduction in domestic water use

48% recycling rate campus-wide

70% of energy offset by RECs

80% C&D waste diversion rate

harvard business school aldrich hall · case study harvard business school, aldrich hall ......

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