Located in Boston, United States of America, is Payette, a collective of 140 designers, keen in the art of sowing design that is deep-rooted in sustainability and building performance. Every year, the American Institute of Architects lauds one firm which has exhibited remarkably in the arena of architecture for more than a decade. Payette was awarded last year by AIA for the same. The following are the top projects of Payette-
1. Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex, North-eastern University
“Cutting-edge science facility establishes University’s research identity”
The Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC) is an attempt at linking one of its pre-existing campuses to this new academic quarter. By the means of a new pedestrian bridge a.k.a. PedX, students are escorted into the building’s atrium of six floors which is deemed to act as a new hub for the proposed campus.
A climatologically sensitive design approach was undertaken throughout the conception of ISEC. The fluid façade of the building, aesthetically pleasing, is actually composed of shading elements that adhere to its performance.
2. James Mandell Building, Boston Children’s Hospital
“Maximizing opportunities in a constrained urban site”
An urban infill project set in the midst of Boston’s Longwood Medical Area is this addition to the Boston Children’s Hospital. A challenging design program which had to incorporate a 10-storey building, while catering to the needs of the tenants of ample light and views.
Only about half of the building’s footprint rests on the ground, while the other is actually cantilevered from its adjacent existing hospital building. To provide ambient light, good views and a sort of a retreat from the working atmosphere, a “hanging garden” was devised on the sixth floor.
3. 75–125 Binney Street, Alexandria Real Estate Equities
“Navigating diverse neighbourhoods through shifts in massing, detailing and scale”
75-125 Binney Street is a bustling science and technology campus located at the convergence of Kendall Square and East Cambridge. With a gross square footage of 3,80,000, the building was intended to be used as highly flexible labs and as office spaces.
With a vibrant atrium that forms a connection between the two entities that occupy an entire block of the city, it acts as a hub of activities with its many features of the bridges, terraces, gardens, cafes, etc.
4. Institute of Science and Technology, Skolkovo University
“A new institution promises vast horizons for research”
Grounded in Russia is the new Institute of Science and Technology Campus whose master plan was devised by Payette. The scope of this project was to equip laboratories into the existing Institute designed by Herzog & de Meuron which is primed as a centre for academic research in the Country.
As the building was designed with a structural grid of 7-metre column spans, it allowed for flexibility in the fit-out process. Aimed at creating an entrepreneurial research institution, the building aims to tie industry to materials, biomedical, energy, computational and space research programs.
5. Kimball Hall Renovation, Cornell University
“An outdated facility reimagined as a high performance, flexible, bright new lab”
A renovation design envisioned to inspire integration among faculty and students, create work areas distinguished by the use of energy and student workspaces in Cornell’s College of Engineering. The original hall, with an open plan, was built in 1952, but the spaces within were pigeon-holed into workrooms that were barren of daylight.
The building was the winning recipient of the Award of Renovated Lab of the Year by R&D Magazine. With the need to invite in more natural light into the formerly enclosed building, large windows were introduced into its envelope. To increase openness within the built, sliding glass doors and slot windows were also incorporated.
