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E-NEWSLETTER | WINTER 2014
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ASPIRING TO BE ONE OF THE MOST SUSTAINABLE FIRMS |
The Thornton Tomasetti 2013 Corporate Sustainability Report opens with these words from our Chairman and CEO Tom Scarangello: "We aspire to be one of the most sustainable firms in the AEC world, both in the way we design our projects and how we operate as a responsible business."
We are taking our commitment to sustainability beyond green building consulting services by exploring the integration of sustainability with structural design and pursuing bold goals for the company's operations. In 2013, we set ambitious targets for living up to our commitment to holistic sustainability, which includes realizing climate-neutral business operations by 2030. Under the umbrella of corporate sustainability, we are reducing our carbon footprint and waste as well as finding new ways to support our employees and the communities in which we work.
Our first stand-alone sustainability report describes what we achieved in 2013 and where we hope to go. Read the report to learn about our efforts to achieve LEED Gold certification or higher for new office fit-outs, to find out how we are innovating to meet the AIA 2030 Commitment's reporting requirements by calculating our projects' embodied energy and to see how a firm with 26 offices implements consistent, firm-wide sustainability policies.
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CORNELL'S UPSON HALL GETS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY FACELIFT |
Universities strive to give students an interdisciplinary understanding of the world, to promote their ability to integrate concepts and ideas and foster collaborative problem solving. We are putting this approach into practice at Cornell University, where we are bringing together structural engineering, fa�ade design and sustainability consulting services to develop a new face for the engineering quad on the university's New York City campus.
Our integrated team is working with Perkins+Will and LTL Architects to renovate Upson Hall, a 160,000-square-foot classroom, laboratory and office building. Our work includes detailed energy and daylighting analysis to determine optimal strategies for the replacement of Upson's 1950s-era fa�ade. We are using parametric analysis tools developed in-house (see article at right) to examine the impact of daylighting on the entire spectrum of potential fa�ade solutions. While Cornell's requirements for the renovation include LEED Gold certification and at least a 30 percent energy savings (compared to a code minimum building), the university and project team have decided to up the ante and seek LEED Platinum and a 50 percent energy savings.
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RHINO, GRASSHOPPER, PANDA ... THE WILD WORLD OF SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS |
Our energy analysts are the Dr. Dolittles of our field. They're talking in Grasshopper, visualizing with Rhino, and recently crossbred a Honeybee with a Ladybug to produce a PANDA (Parametric Analysis of eNergy and Daylight Autonomy), a new sustainability analysis platform.
Developed by the Building Sustainability practice in collaboration with our CORE studio, PANDA is a unique addition to our menagerie of analysis tools.
The PANDA tool allows users to visualize changes to a building by modifying parameters that influence daylighting and energy consumption. It provides rapid feedback, with comparisons to energy standards such as ASHRAE 90.1 and the 2030 Challenge. Users can manipulate geometry, floor heights and window-to-wall area ratios, among a host of other characteristics, all with the push and pull of a few Grasshopper sliders.
Our Dolittles are preparing to release PANDA into the wild. After we give it a few test runs on our project work, we plan to share it with the simulation community as a free, open-source component.
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Thornton Tomasetti Vice President Wolfgang Werner and Jennifer Marmon, founding partner of the Platform for Architecture + Research (PAR), will present "Buildings Instead of Landfills: Recycled Plastic Waste in Concrete Structures" at the Sustainable Structures Symposium, on April 17-18 at Portland State University in Portland, Ore. If you miss this event, you can see Wolfgang and Jennifer's presentation at the International Concrete Sustainability Conference in Boston May 12-15.
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E-NEWSLETTER | WINTER 2014
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