Columbia University's new Gary C. Comer Geochemistry Building at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York recently earned three separate design awards: R&D Magazine's 2009 Lab of the Year, a 2009 Sustainable Design Award from EPA and the Boston Society of Architects, and an Excellence in Architecture in a New Building from AIA and the Society for College and University Planning. Each of the awards were given to Boston-based architects Payette, which designed the 63,000-square-foot structure. The building is named for the late Lands End founder Gary Comer, who provided construction funding and was a supporter of the climate change research at Lamont-Doherty which will continue at the building.
Payette's design accomodates energy-intensive laboratory equipment and complex building systems with architecture that is integrated into the surrounding rural landsape. These were critical considerations for each of the juries that considered Payette's application; in addition to sustainable materials that the firm specified throughout, the building's siting, massing, and organization were particularly noteworthy. Payette segregated a two-story office wing with operable windows from three stories of labs on the other side of the building, which are supported by their own energy infrastructure. Lamont-Doherty director G. Michael Purdy tells BD+C that Payette's "visionary design combines the three primary attributes of a great and effective building: environmentally sound and energy-efficient architecture, an uncomplicated layout that is driven directly by the specific needs of the researchers, and a traffic pattern that will enhance important interactions between the many different groups of users.”
The Comer Geochemistry Building opened in late 2007 and continues to seek LEED Silver certification from USGBC.
- Payette's Green Design Wins Three Awards (BD+C)
- Geochemistry Building (Payette)
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