Abby Jean Scanlon
Lighting/Electrical
Building Statistics
Building name........................................The Richard E. Griffin Academic Center
Location and site....................................670 Huntington Avenue on MCPHS’s Boston Campus
Building Occupant Name.....................Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University
Occupancy or function..........................Classrooms, Teach Laboratories, and Faculty and Staff Offices
Size (total square feet)...........................50,000 sq. ft.
Stories above grade...............................6 stories above grade
Total Number of Storie..........................8 stories
Building Foorprint..................................7,600 sq. ft
Primary project team Owner: MCPHS University [mcphs.edu]
Architect: Perkins + Will [perkinswill.com]
Civil Engineer: Daylor Consulting Group [daylor.com]
Geotech Engineer: Haley & Aldrich [haleyaldrich.com/]
Structural Engineer: Souza True & Partners [souzatrue.com/]
MEP/FP Engineer: RDK Engineers [rdkengineers.com/]
Interior Design: Kris Stoller Interior Design [ksid.net/]
Life Safety/Code: RW Sullivan Engineering [rwsullivan.com/]
Elevator Consultants: Lerch Bates Inc. [lerchbates.com/]
Dates of Construction............................September 2007-January 2009 (16 months)
Total Building Cost.................................Confidential
Project Delivery Method........................Design-Bid-Build, CM at risk
Building Overview
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) University is the oldest academic institute in Boston proper, located in the Longwood Medical Academic area. The Richard E. Griffin Academic Center at 670 Huntington Avenue supplied the space needed to accommodate the rapid growth of the university since 2002. The Griffin Academic Center is just half a block from the John Richard Fennell building, the Boston campus’s flagship building.
Each of the building’s 8 floors has its own functional purpose. The two underground floors house mechanical rooms and a two-story auditorium classroom. Sky wells and an atrium connect the below grade floors to the above grade floors. A daylit student lounge occupies the ground floor for students to use as they wait to attend classes on the two floors above and below ground level. Standard classrooms are on the second floor while lab classrooms are on third floor. Both the fourth and fifth floors contain private offices for faculty and administration. The penthouse floor houses a large multi-purpose gathering space overlooking Longwood Avenue and Mission Hill.
The building’s footprint follows the triangular property line of the 7,500 sq. ft. site in order to maximize the square footage of the building. Most rooms located on either of the acute corners of the building were designed as private offices or conferences room in response to the untraditional space shapes. The few spaces that were not designed as offices or conferences turned into conference rooms a short time after occupation.
Before MCPHS purchased this site, a gas station occupied this space. MCPHS demolished the gas station and used it as a parking lot for over a year as the Griffin Academic Centers plans were made. The parking lot held less than 40 cars. The site lies of the edge of Huntington Avenue and the Mission Hill area, specifically the Triangle neighborhood (the area between Worthington, Wigglesworth and Tremont Streets). Mission Hill residents, famous for being very outspoken, insisted that many restrictions be placed on the Griffin Academic Center design including a limit of 6 floors above ground and no more than 50,000 gross square feet of floor area.
Building Codes
The Seventh Edition, Massachusetts Building Code (780 CMR)
IECC -2003
IMC- 2003
IBC 2003
Zoning
Griffin Academic center is located in the Mission Hill Zoning Area of Boston. The building required conditional zoning permits to ensure the building was approved by the residents of the historical Mission Hill area.
Building Enclosure
Typical cavity walls systems enclose the bulk of the Griffin Academic Center that includes a 3-5/8” red brick veneer to match the surrounding Mission Hill residences.
To accommodate the broad range of the New England climate, the exterior walls have a 1-7/8” air cavity, and 4” of rigid insulation. In response to the climate and surrounding neighborhoods, there is a reduced Window-to-Wall Ratio on two out of the three facades. In fact, many areas that look like windows are actually solid walls. A silver façade was used to make an appearance of continuous windows along all three facades, but due to the bathroom and mechanical room layouts, actual windows were not utilized. The third façade has a series of small width curtain walls, at a height of two or three floors to let daylight into the student workspaces. The thermally broken aluminum curtain walls have a ½” of single pane glazing. The exterior walls rise above the sixth floor ceiling to conceal mechanical equipment stored on the roof. As typical with commercial buildings, the Griffin Academic Center has a flat membrane roof with 6” of rigid insulation.
Sustainability Features
There are no extra sustainability features in this building design except that which is already included in the IBC and Massachusetts building codes. The reason for the lack of sustainability features is obvious when you think about the purpose of this building. MCPHS had been growing rapidly since 2002 when new leadership took over and aimed to grow the wealth and prosperity of the college (MCPHS was not a university until 2013). By the time MCPHS acquired the 7,500 sq. ft. plot of land, the college was in severe need of space for both faculty and students. The Mission Hill zoning board restricted the building to 50,000 sq. ft. of occupied space. MCPHS needed every inch of that 50,000 sq. ft. and many sustainability opportunities would likely have reduced the area needed for classrooms and offices. Another factor was time. The Griffin Academic Center was designed and constructed in a little over two years. The design, analysis, and decision process in sustainable systems would likely have slowed the project significantly and had financial ramifications. A delayed start would have meant reduced classroom spaces, and a reduced number of classes offered, and thus less revenue for MCPHS. The new leadership since 2002 was concentrated on increasing the college’s endowment. Any endeavor that would have drained the growth of the endowment was severely criticized, including the initial cost of any sustainable systems. Space utilization, time, and money were the major reasons sustainable features were not u se in the Griffin Academic Center.
Primary Engineering Systems
Construction
The traditional construction method, Design-Bid-Build with the Construction Manager at risk was used for the destruction of the existing parking lot and the complete construction of the Griffin Academic Center. Perkins + Will Architects together with RDK Engineers, and Souza True & Partners designed the building. The residents of the neighboring Mission Hill Triangle Historic District were also heavily involved in the design of the building. Their influence can be found in the number of stories of the building and the classic red brick facade. Bond Brothers, Inc. was the general contractor for the project. They faced many difficulties in construction including no space for lay down or storage, and a site boarding a transit line.
Electrical
The Griffin Academic Center, similar to many academic buildings, has primary service delivered to the building. The transformer to step down the voltage to 480/277V is owned by the power company, Eversource. This transformer is located on the ground floor. A second transformer owned and operated by MCPHS is located on the second floor basement, and distributes 208/120V power for lighting and receptacles to all floors of the building. 480/277V power is brought directly to the roof from the main switchboard on level B2 to supply power for the building’s mechanical equipment.
A diesel fueled generator is also located on the roof to provide power to the entire building in the event of an emergency. Three transfer switches distribute the 300KW/375 KVA electrical power to emergency and standby loads.
Lighting
Built in 2009 before the LED age, the lighting system in the Griffin Academic Center is far from today’s standards. A majority of the lighting design uses triple tube compact fluorescent lamps, a source that would never be specified today. The second most popular light fixture in the building is a 2’x2’ volumetric troffer using linear fluorescent lamps; a fixture that is still commonly specified today. Occupancy sensors control the lighting in primarily public areas and in back of house spaces such as mechanical rooms and bathrooms. Strangely, none of the private offices on the fourth and fifth floor are controlled by occupancy sensors, where occupancy sensors have proven to be effective in saving energy. On the whole, spaces are controlled by toggle switch and do not contain dimmable loads. Lutron products, like the Grafik Eye, are used sparingly throughout the building and, are more often than not, accompanied by signs posted to either explain or bypass the control system. While many rooms in the building implement quality lighting design to create a welcoming and pleasant environment, such as the lobby and the penthouse multipurpose space, the overall lighting experience of the building could be improved upon. The experience in the hallways connected offices is of particular concern. Due to the physical limitations of the compact fluorescent downlights used in the hallway, light is directed solely at the floor which causes the ceiling and upper half of the walls to be dark in contrast. This contrast is called the ‘cave effect’ and it is a very unpleasant lighting design to walk through. The Griffin Academic Center provides a functional lighting system that could use improvement upon user experience.
Mechanical
A variable air volume system facilitates the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning needs of the Griffin Academic center. Each space has access to a VAV box located in the ceiling to distribute the air necessary to meet each spaces’ load. All the equipment for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning is located on the roof. A single 95 GPM air handling unit handles the ventilation for the building. A single 175 GPM boiler provides hot water to meet the heating load for the building. A 200 ton chiller supplies cold water to meet the cooling load for the building. An economizer monitors the outside air temperature to determine when it is more efficient to use outside air temperature to meet cooling loads or to use the compressor. All heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment is on the building’s rooftop generator for emergency situations.
Structural
Underneath the two basements the building sits on a foundation of concrete slab. The superstructure consists of steel framing and composite slabs to handle gravitational loads. Moment frames around the perimeter of the building provide lateral stability.
Additional Engineering and Engineering Support Systems
Fire Protection
Automated Sprinkler Systems on all floors are supplied water by a 100HP, 1000GPM fire pump. The Fire Pump Room is located in the subbasement of the Griffin Academic Center. A signal from the Duct Smoke AHU interface will shut down the HVAC system when it detects smoke. Fire Alarm Terminal Cabinets are located on levels B1, 3, and 6. The building is an ICC group B construction type and all fire rated walls have a 2 hour fire-resistance rating.
Telecommunications Systems
Telecommunications and data transmission rooms are located on the second, third and sixth floors on the southwest corner of the building beside the elevator cores. The telecommunication lines are independent from the other buildings on MCPHS’s campus. The transit line separating the Griffin Academic Center from the campus’ main building made it difficult to connect the buildings as they had wanted.
Transportation
Two 40HP elevators provide vertical transportation to all eight floors of the building. 480 volt power energizes the elevator movement as well as the fan, lighting, intercom, and air conditioning systems.