Page 19 - Green Builder Jan-Feb 2022 Issue

New approach. Described as a Passive House Demonstration Project, this near-net-zero multi-family dwelling in Roxbury, Boston, has brought similar
projects to the city. CREDIT: FORBES MASSE STUDIO

POPULATION 1ST U.S. CITY SOLID WASTE REDUCTION
GOAL BY 2030
675,647 TO REQUIRE LARGE BUILDING 80%

PROJECTS TO BE LEED
CERTIFIABLE
SOURCE: DSIRE

A project by the architects from the Massachusetts of Tech- realistic comparison of different types of construction.
nology (MIT) spinoff Generate Architecture + Technologies Wood construction has tended to be limited to single-
(GAT), and design and construction firm Placetailor, fits family houses or smaller apartment buildings with just a
right in. The five-story building in the city’s Lower Roxbury few units, narrowing the impact that it can have in urban
district is made from cross-laminated timber (CLT), which areas. But recent developments—involving the production
eliminates most of the GhG emissions associated with stan- of large-scale wood components, known as mass timber; the
dard building materials. The 14-unit structure is Boston’s use of techniques such as CLT; and changes in U.S. building
first full CLT building and is so energy efficient that its net codes—now make it possible to extend wood’s reach into
carbon emissions come to essentially zero, according to GAT much larger buildings, potentially up to 18 stories high.
CEO John Klein. Several other CLT-related projects have since gotten
Most attempts to quantify a building’s GhG contributions underway in Boston. The city’s efforts mirror those in other
focus on the building’s operations, especially its heating cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee and Portland, Oregon.
and cooling systems. But the materials used in a building’s “There’s a definite climate crisis,” says Colin Booth, Pla-
construction, especially steel and concrete, are also major cetailor’s strategic director. “The city needs to do its part in
sources of carbon emissions and need to be included in any helping to address it.”

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