Summer Star Wildlife Sanctuary Trailhead House, Boylston, Mass. – photo by Anton Grassl
Pictured L-R: Chris Schaffner and Matt Smith, The Green Engineer, Inc.; Kathleen MacEwen, Consigli Construction Co., Inc.; Carrie Havey, The Green Engineer, Inc.; Shalin Liu, Summer Star Wildlife Sanctuary; Ryan Montoni and Brad Newkirk, The Green Engineer, Inc.
CAMBRIDGE, MA – Summer Star Wildlife Sanctuary’s Trailhead House was awarded the U.S. Green Building Council of Massachusetts 2015 Green Building of Year Award at a ceremony held on Thursday, October 1, 2015 at the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge. Project team members from The Green Engineers, Inc., Consigli Construction Co., Inc. (Consigli), and Summer Star’s Founder, Shalin Liu, were in attendance to receive the award, which was given to the best green building for exemplary building performance and innovation in green design.
The 2015 Green Building Showcase is the USGBC of Massachusetts Chapter’s premier fall event to showcase and celebrate exceptional green buildings conceived, designed, built and operated over the past year. Over 75 projects were on display, with more than 250 industry leaders in attendance.
The 5,200 square-foot Summer Star Wildlife Sanctuary Trailhead House serves as a visitor center and educational gateway to 45 acres of preserved forest, streams and wetlands, and 1.5 miles of trails in Boylston, Massachusetts. The sanctuary’s primary mission is to protect and care for the site’s wildlife and environment, and to offer a place for education and observation.
The LEED Gold Certified building was designed to minimize its impact on the environment and incorporates sustainable features that include photovoltaic panels, green roofs, thermal shutters, composting toilets, waterless urinals, reclaimed wood harvested from the site and a rain-water pool. The site design also incorporates many low-impact, sustainable techniques, including permeable pavement and roof runoff used in both underground fire protection and irrigation tanks.
Since Summer Star Wildlife Sanctuary opened in the fall of 2014, it has garnered a number of building and design industry awards. In addition to Consigli and The Green Engineers, Inc., the project team included building design by Dewing Schmid Kearns Architects + Planners, landscape design by Klopfer Martin Design Group, civil engineering by Outback Engineering, Inc., structural engineering by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc. and mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering by Allied Engineering, Inc.