Tufts University Science and Engineering Complex

Through Atelier Ten’s early stage façade optimization, energy efficient lighting design, iterative whole building energy modeling, and LEED management, the state-of-the-art lab achieves a significant 77% reduction in energy savings and LEED Gold certification. Rather than demolishing the original buildings, the project enhances the existing buildings to create an award-winning Science and Engineering Complex.

The new science complex updates two existing buildings and includes a new addition that employs low-energy strategies across all the buildings. Atelier Ten’s early concept modeling identified façade optimization opportunities to avoid heat loss and solar heat gain. A high-performance triple-glazed envelope minimizes energy usage and allowed for the elimination of perimeter heating.

Atelier Ten provided iterative energy modeling throughout the design to integrate low-energy strategies across the project. Operable windows in the offices and the atrium provide natural ventilation. Return air from the offices and non-lab spaces is passively warmed as it rises through the atrium and returns to the labs, reducing the preheating otherwise required for direct outside air.

Atelier Ten’s lighting design enriches the learning functions of the research and classroom facilities while enhancing visual quality and minimizing energy use. Light softly washes down the original building’s brick walls highlighting their warmth and texture, a welcome contrast to the sleek, modern expansion. Atelier Ten integrated task lighting in the labs coupled with occupancy sensors, daylight harvesting, and extensive use of LED fixtures throughout the buildings to reduce total watts/sf by 40%.