Bringing together the previously dispersed departments of Landscape Architecture, Architecture, and Building Technology programs, the new Design Building is a dynamic space of exchange, collaboration, and experiment, celebrating a shared commitment to sustainability.
“By designing a malleable architectural framework that allows for flexibility, using social interaction research and levels as a guide, we can collectively create interior spaces that accommodate many configurations and shared settings, meeting today’s COVID-19 academic challenges and tomorrow’s student needs.” Juliet Chun
Thank you to the golden pin Golden Pin Design Awards 2020, see shortlist.
“A series of sculptural, three-dimensional trusses span the building’s largest space using the material efficiency of a truss geometry while composite CLT panels span between the trusses to provide the necessary support for the enclosed roof garden and its intensive green roof with up to 18 inches of soil and New England snowdrift loading conditions,” Tom Chung said.
Conferred by the AIA Committee on the Environment, the COTE® Top Ten Awards is the industry’s best-known award program for sustainable design excellence. Each year, ten innovative projects are recognized for their integration of design excellence with environmental performance.
The Olver Building exemplifies the University of Massachusetts’ commitment to sustainable and innovative design with its LEED Gold certification and demonstration of emerging wood construction technologies. Bringing together the previously dispersed Departments of Architecture, Building Construction Technology, and Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning, the John W. Olver Design Building fosters multidisciplinary collaboration and expressively integrates building, landscape architecture, and building technology.
Addressing not only operational energy use, but also reducing the embodied energy of the building itself, the Olver building features an innovative use of engineered timber structure. The largest cross-laminated timber (CLT) academic building in the United States, the Olver building demonstrates the sustainability, economy, and beauty of mass timber as a building material and renewable resource.
Learn more about the award-winning sustainable features of the John W. Olver Design Building:
https://www.aia.org/showcases/6280256-john-w-olver-design-building
The DNA Paris Design Awards honors designs in the disciplines of Architecture, Interior design, Landscape Design, Graphic Design and Products design awarding the best designers worldwide. To learn more about the award visit:
Principal, Tom Chung, was featured in Energy News Network article discussing three reasons why he is an advocate of wood construction. Chung lists three reasons, “CLT is a renewable resource, provided that the wood used to make the products comes from a sustainably managed forest, as verified by third-party certification. And the production process is much less carbon-intensive compared to concrete or steel. Second, the CLT is usually exposed in the building interiors, as the wood is aesthetically pleasing. And that adds to a building’s sustainability because construction requires fewer resources — ‘you don’t have to have additional materials to cover up the structure.’And finally, because the products are prefabricated in a factory, the process of assembling the building is faster, quieter and results in less construction waste, he said.”- Energy News Network
Read Article Here: https://energynews.us/2020/04/22/northeast/critical-mass-can-low-carbon-wood-construction-catch-on-in-the-u-s/
“A powerful combination of natural resources and local initiative is pushing one southern state to the forefront of architectural innovation in the country” – The Architect’s Newspaper.
Read article here:
https://archpaper.com/2020/04/innovation-in-arkansas-shouldnt-be-overlooked/
Tom S. Chung is recognized for his creation of a nourishing public realm by pioneering sustainable Mass Timber Architecture, celebrating material and craft, and sharing his knowledge with current and future generation of architects.
Tom is a national leader with over 20 years with Leers Weinzapfel Associates. He has been a primary designer for a number of the firm’s most prominent projects, including John W. Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst, Adohi Hall at the University of Arkansas, and Center for Engineering, Innovation and Sciences at Wentworth Institute of Technology. He has extensive experience in the practice and education of Mass Timber Design. He has worked closely with researchers, structural engineers and fabricators to gain mastery over this new technology. As a Korean born, naturalized American who was raised to value education and its opportunities for success, Tom is deeply committed to giving back through teaching and service. Within the office, he is a mentor and advisor to the next generation of young designers.
Tom Chung joins the fellow principals Andrea Leers, FAIA, Jane Weinzapfel, FAIA, and Josiah Stevenson, FAIA.
See Tom featured in High-Profile article:
https://www.high-profile.com/two-boston-principals-elevated-to-aia-fellow/