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Oct. 16, 2015 — State and school officials recently attended a ceremonial groundbreaking at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for a $52 million Design Building.
The state-of-the-art teaching facility will be built with innovative wood construction technologies, featuring exposed structural and mechanical elements in order to demonstrate techniques.
The building will be made with renewable and recyclable materials. Sustainable features will be included throughout, from low-flow water fixtures to lights that turn off when sensors show a room is empty. Heating and ventilation systems will be highly energy efficient, and the roof will have space for possible installation of solar panels.
A “green roof” outdoor courtyard and garden will help prevent stormwater runoff and maintain moisture, keeping the building cooler and reducing air conditioning. The rainwater retention system will collect water from the roof and channel it to bioswales, which are landscape elements that filter out pesticides and other harmful chemicals.
The 87,000-square-foot building, to open in 2017, will house three academic programs from three separate colleges: Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; the Department of Architecture from the College of Humanities and Fine Arts; and the Building Construction Technology program from the College of Natural Sciences.
For more on the building, visit https://www.umass.edu/dcm/designb.
