OHSU Center First Medical Facility to Win LEED Platinum Award
Sustainable features highlight design
The Oregon Health & Science University's (OHSU) Center for Health & Healing has received LEED® platinum certification, the first medical and research facility in the U.S. to have achieved the distinction. Located in Portland’s 38-acre South Waterfront district, the 16-story, 400,000-square-foot building employs a number of sustainability strategies, including photovoltaic arrays on its sunscreens, a trombe wall to collect and circulate solar heat, a gas-fueled power system, and an on-site wastewater treatment plant. The building, which opened last November, is 61 percent more energy-efficient than required by Oregon code. Key team members, in addition to OHSU and the OHSU Medical Group, included GBD Architects, Interface Engineering Inc., and Gerding Edlen Development, the development managers.

AIA New England Awards Honor Design Excellence in the Region
AIA New England announced the recipients of their annual Excellence in Design Awards at their annual meeting last September. Six projects were selected to receive Honor Awards for Design Excellence and 10 projects were awarded Merit Awards for Design Excellence. The program was administered by AIA Rhode Island this year, and the jury was composed of Lawrence Speck, FAIA, Page Sutherland Page, Austin, Tex.; Suha Ozkan, Hon. FAIA, Secretary General, Aga Khan Award for Architecture, Geneva; and Elva Rubio, AIA, Director of Design, Gensler, Chicago.

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USGBC Walks Their Talk
LEED creator’s new HQ achieves Platinum-CI
The U.S. Green Building Council’s new DuPont Circle headquarters in Washington, D.C., has achieved the highest LEED® rating for its interiors. The Platinum Commercial Interiors office suite was designed by the D.C. office of Perkins + Will. “The USGBC wanted a place that would further their mission,” says Lead Designer Gretchen Leigh. “They’re all about educating the community about sustainable design, and they’re a very energetic, forward-thinking, innovative organization, so they wanted a place that would reflect those ideas. They wanted to show the community that the place didn’t necessarily have to look any different than a conventionally designed space; that it could be ‘crisp, but not crunchy.’”