Partners HealthCare Administrative Campus, Somerville, Massachusetts, photo by Kyle aldwell, completion 2016. This LEED Gold campus brings together nearly 4,500 employees, showcasing a new benchmark for workplace design and sustainable practices. Native and adaptive planting, including 333 trees, combat wind and transit noise, and sequester nearly 40,000 pounds of carbon annually.
AN URBAN CAMPUS CENTERED AROUND A PUBLIC OPEN SPACE IS A BENCHMARK FOR SUSTAINABLE STRATEGIES AND A PLACE TO REJUVENATE.
This LEED Gold campus brings together nearly 4,500 employees, showcasing a new benchmark for workplace design and sustainable practices. To realize a public-private corporate campus in a newly developed high density district of the city, the project includes programmed spaces for both internal and external uses. Private and semi-private courtyards, designed more formally on an architectural grid, promote inside-outside connections with the building. In contrast, a 2.5-acre event lawn features groves of river birch, maple, ginkgo, redwood, and a sinuous lawn trail that encourages guests to wander and stay outside.
A 40,000 SF green roof, which supports a private dining terrace, is shrouded by nearly 100 Whitespire birch trees. These trees act as a curtain between two environments. On one side, the dining area is a clear extension of the interior, but just 40 feet away, the trees create an alcove for privacy. Sloped planters extend from the dining area into the private alcove where they rise to a height that supports seating.
Native and adaptive planting, including 333 trees, combat wind, transit noise, and sequester nearly 40,000 pounds of carbon annually. A system of dry creekways directs stormwater out and away from building. Native New England prairie planting functions as biofiltration system, filtering 15,000 SF of runoff before entering the stormwater system.
