海角视频

Somerville鈥檚 Brickbottom District is entering a new chapter, and 100 Chestnut is the building announcing that shift. Hear from 海角视频鈥檚 team on how.  

Laboratory buildings are among the toughest settings to decarbonize. Labs must bring in and condition unusually high amounts of fresh outdoor air to meet safety standards, which significantly increases their heating and cooling loads and overall energy intensity. At 100 Chestnut, a 200,000 ft虏 life鈥憇ciences core鈥慳nd鈥憇hell in Somerville鈥檚 Brickbottom District, the team achieved LEED Platinum (a rare outcome for an energy鈥慽ntensive lab) by aligning early modeling, an electrification鈥憆eady infrastructure approach, and a highly coordinated design process.  

We met with Partner Julie Janiski, a leader in decarbonization and integrated sustainability for complex projects, and project team Justin Mole, Principal | US East Coast sciences sector leader, and Ben Martinson, Associate Principal | Facades, to hear more about the project and what it means for clients looking to modernize existing facilities into high-performance spaces.  

Why LEED Platinum for a lab matters 

LEED Platinum is still rare in ground鈥憉p life science buildings. What performance challenges come with designing a new lab facility from scratch, and how did 海角视频鈥檚 MEP and sustainability teams reconcile lab safety and scientific function with deep energy and carbon reductions? 

Julie Janiski: Labs start with a handicap: ventilation and process loads dominate the energy balance. Our strategy was to treat performance as a design driver from day one- using early cost, energy and carbon modeling to set a path we could hold through procurement and construction. That created alignment on priorities like optimizing outside air, right鈥憇izing systems, and ensuring the base building was ready for a fully electric future as the grid decarbonizes.  

Justin 惭辞濒茅: We spent a significant amount of time early in design evaluating every option on the table – all鈥慹lectric, electric鈥憆eady, next鈥慻en refrigerants, rainwater reuse for the cooling tower, advanced metering – and narrowed in on strategies that met Somerville鈥檚 stringent compliance landscape while staying within budget. The big success story is that the sustainability, MEP, and facades teams were fully integrated under the 海角视频 umbrella. That let us optimize the building holistically and deliver LEED Platinum without a premium that would make the project unviable. 

In labs, performance isn鈥檛 a feature – it鈥檚 the formwork for every decision.

Julie Janiski, Partner

Ventilation without compromise 

High鈥憄erformance labs often conflict with deep energy reduction. How did the team rethink ventilation, fume hood strategy, and systems integration to slash energy use without compromising safety? 

Justin: The foundation of our strategy was a robust landlord鈥搕enant matrix developed early in the base鈥慴uilding design. It helped to set clear limits for air changes, power allowances, and exhaust per tenant type – flexible enough for a wide range of lab users, but constrained enough to prevent over鈥慸esigning the building into an energy hog. As tenants moved in – including vivarium, research, dental, automation, and incubator spaces – we continuously checked their needs against these allowances. That鈥檚 how we kept energy performance tight while still meeting scientific and safety requirements. 

What specific moves helped reduce energy while maintaining safety and compliance? 

Justin: We focused on the airside first: right鈥憇ized air鈥慶hange assumptions for base鈥慴uilding planning, heat recovery to capture valuable echaust air energy,  and low鈥憄ressure distribution to cut fan energy. We also set up the base building so tenants can safely implement demand鈥慶ontrolled ventilation strategies. Controls flexibility and clear sequences ensure those savings are real. 

Ceiling heights matter. Higher ceilings increase air volume, which increases ventilation energy. We worked closely with the owner to avoid unnecessary height in lab zones while still delivering premium space. 

“Air you don鈥檛 move is energy you don鈥檛 spend as long as safety comes first.” – Julie Janiski, Partner

Electrification鈥憆eady by design 

How did you approach electrification and long鈥憈erm decarbonization? 

Julie: Our role is to help owners’ future鈥憄roof. At 100 Chestnut, the infrastructure was designed to be convertible to 100% electric, which protects the asset as policy, tariffs, and the grid evolve. We paired this with scenario modeling so the client could see both the operational carbon trajectory and peak鈥慸emand implications over time. That鈥檚 how you make smart investments that age well. 

Cutting loads at the envelope 

Where did enclosure and daylighting strategy move the needle? 

Ben Martinson: With a new鈥慴uild project, we had the opportunity to optimize early, when every decision has big ripple effects. We worked closely with Gensler, the sustainability team, and the MEP team to calibrate window鈥憈o鈥憌all ratio, glazing selection, solar heat鈥慻ain coefficient, and visible light transmittance. Those variables went straight into iterative modeling so we could understand how each adjustment impacted downstream HVAC loads, especially cooling.

The client and the design team both had ambitious sustainability goals. The fa莽ade contractor came on board early, and through weekly or biweekly coordination meetings made sure we met aesthetics, performance, and constructability simultaneously. That prevented goal鈥慸ilution later in the process. 

Every watt you keep off the facade is a watt you don鈥檛 have to fight in the plant.

Ben Martinson, Associate Principal | Facades

Large, glazed areas help attract tenants and support wellness, but they also drive cooling loads. How did you ensure the exterior envelope supported, rather than hindered, MEP performance? 

Ben: We ran interactive energy modeling to test how each fa莽ade variable influenced peak cooling and heating loads. It鈥檚 a negotiation – architecture wants transparency, MEP needs to manage solar gain – but because everyone aligned on the LEED Platinum target from day one, we had a shared north star. That focus is how you keep performance from slipping as the design evolves.  

Our fa莽ade testing and verification program during construction went well beyond LEED requirements. We monitored performance continuously so nothing was left to chance. 

Built鈥慽n flexibility for evolving science 

How did you design for a spectrum of life鈥憇cience tenants without oversizing systems? 

闯耻濒颈别:听Flexibility聽that鈥檚聽useful聽isn鈥檛聽the same as flexibility聽that鈥檚聽oversized. We defined clear performance allowances or labs versus offices and聽located聽additional聽capacity where it could be modular. That supports leasing without inflating the energy backbone.聽

“Right鈥憇ized now, right鈥憄lace later – that鈥檚 how flexibility earns its keep.” – Julie Janiski, Partner

Turning certification into a delivery tool 

How did LEED function beyond the plaque? 

Julie: We use certification as a management framework. By tying energy targets, envelope performance, materials, and IEQ to checkpoints in the schedule, the whole team – client, architect, contractor – knows what 鈥渙n track鈥� looks like. It reduces risk. And because we鈥檙e also responsible for MEP, energy modeling, sustainability, lighting, and facades, we can integrate decisions instead of treating them as separate scorecard items.  

LEED wasn鈥檛 the聽finish聽line;聽it was our playbook.

Julie Janiski, Partner

What owners can do in the first 90 days 

If I鈥檓 planning a complex lab or core鈥慳nd鈥憇hell new build, what should I do first? 

Julie: Three things. 

1. Model early, decide early. Lock a target EUI and carbon pathway and use it to steer design and procurement. 
2. Design electrification鈥憆eady infrastructure. Include a clear stepdown plan for fossil-fuel systems – and eliminate them where feasible. 
3. Engineer flexibility without oversizing. Define tenant performance allowances and keep capacity modular. Build metering and analytics in from day one so commissioning and continuous optimization stick. 

The first 90 days determine the next 30 years.

Julie Janiski, Partner

Ultimately, the success of 100 Chestnut comes down to intention. Every discipline pulling in the same direction from the start, every decision grounded in data, and every system sized for what the building needs today and what the market will demand tomorrow. By uniting ventilation strategy, electrification readiness, fa莽ade performance, and flexible core鈥慳nd鈥憇hell planning, the team delivered a lab that meets a stringent sustainability target without compromising the scientific function at its core. For owners, the message is simple – when performance is embedded early and treated as a shared framework, high鈥憇takes projects stop being a balancing act and start becoming long鈥憈erm assets. 100 Chestnut isn鈥檛 just a LEED Platinum building; it鈥檚 a model for how complex labs can be designed to perform on day one and stay resilient for decades to come.