Register Now for BCT’s Spring 2019 Continuing Education Courses at UMass’ Mount Ida Campus

Register Now for BCT’s Spring 2019 Continuing Education Courses at UMass’ Mount Ida Campus

Starting with the Spring Semester 2019, BCT will be offering courses at the new Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst in Newton, MA. For this first semester, we provide two courses that target continuing education students and professionals that are interested in furthering their education in sustainable construction and building technology. The following 3-credit, semester-long courses are available for registration now. Start date for the semester is January 22, 2019. Legal Aspects of Architecture, Engineering, and the Construction Process (BCT 597N) Legal issues arising from design and construction services, with a practical focus on risk management and liability awareness. Topical areas include basic legal doctrines, contract documents, contract administration, liens & bonds, claims, professional liability, human resources, legal evidence & recordkeeping, and dispute resolution. The course will also touch on the special legal challenges presented by technological, scientific, and cultural developments including sustainability, BIM/VDC, mass timber, automation, and climate change. Instructor: Steven J. O’Neill, Esq. High Performance Building: Issues and Perspectives (BCT 597Q) This course examines...
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Zac Bloom of Competitive Energy Systems speaks on Energy Procurement Strategies

Zac Bloom of Competitive Energy Systems speaks on Energy Procurement Strategies

In the third talk of our fall lecture series, BCT alumnus Zac Bloom, spoke about Designing Energy Procurement Strategies. Zac, who is Director of Sustainability and Renewables at Competitive Energy Systems (CES), was intricately involved in many energy projects including the recently installed UMass 5 MW solar array. In his talk, he gave us a broad and eloquent overview of the many factors that influence energy purchasing and systems selection. Synopsis Mr. Bloom originally joined Competitive Energy Systems (CES) in 2012 as a Business Development and Account Manager and was soon promoted to Director of Sustainability & Renewables. Now CES's Vice President, Head of Renewables & Sustainability, Mr. Bloom primarily consults with universities and large commercial customers on energy procurement strategies, budgeting, sustainability, energy benchmarking and CES’s proprietary Utility Tracker. Prior to joining CES, at UMass Amherst, Mr. Bloom focused his studies on energy benchmarking and data visualizations for large data sets associated with building’s resource consumption profiles. https://youtu.be/UjClvszwKd8 Links Presentation slides Competitive Energy Systems UMass Solar Projects...
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Jonathan Wright of Wright Builders speaks about their Living Building Challenge projects

Jonathan Wright of Wright Builders speaks about their Living Building Challenge projects

In the second BCT lecture of the fall season, Jonathan Wright of Wright Builders spoke about "Building at the Edge of Sustainability" as exemplified in their various Living Building Challenge projects. In his engaging talk, he outlined the process behind the Kern Center at Hampshire College and various other buildings and also provided an outlook for the future of sustainable construction. Synopsis Mr. Wright, a graduate of Hampshire College, has been an active regional leader in sustainable design and construction since 1976. The firm he co-owns, Wright Builders, Inc., recently completed two Living Building Challenge projects (R.W. Kern Center & Hitchcock Center for the Environment) achieving the highest standard of renewable and resilient design and construction. His upcoming book Spirit of the Makers will be published by Ecotone Press in 2019. His journalism has spanned several decades, and in 2018 his poetry and photograph collection Season of Dreams joined the 2014 poetry collection, After the Rain. Links Presentation slides Wright Builders Living Building Challenge Presentation Slides https://youtu.be/qN128ZRIveo...
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Steve Hoyt gives talk on performance glazing

Steve Hoyt gives talk on performance glazing

Last week, we enjoyed a talk by Steve Hoyt of A.W. Hastings & Co., where he elaborated on options to use performance glazing for building envelope optimization. Flanked by two of our new mockup cutaway models of window installations, he covered basics of light and glazing, window parameters, and presented many installations. Synopsis: This lecture describes how Low E coatings work, both from scientific and applications perspectives. The manufacturing process of applying coatings to glass is shown, and benefits of Low E coatings for energy efficiency are presented. https://youtu.be/gmC3gwetg0U Images: Links: Presentation Slides A.W. Hastings Marvin Windows and Doors...
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Ted Sheridan and UMass alumnus Greg Orwat present their passive house projects

Ted Sheridan and UMass alumnus Greg Orwat present their passive house projects

For millenniums Architects have been designing beautiful geometries enhancing our public realm. For perhaps 50 years, to different degrees, Architects have been designing buildings that perform more and more efficiently, reducing both our climate impact and our energy costs. Marrying the two strategies is not an easy task. Ted Sheridan, AIA, and Gregory Orwat (UMass Architecture Graduate) from Ryall Sheridan Architects presented a fabulous group of projects extracted from their firm’s portfolio; each demonstrating the real possibility of achieving the elegance of sophisticated architecture and the rigors of Passive House Standard within one geometry. Synopsis: Tectonic Extremes of Passive House Design. Passive House design offers a radically efficient means for reducing the energy use of buildings of all types but it tends to constrain architectural form making. This does not need to be the case; with careful design considerations and use of advanced performance materials, architectural design can be spatially ambitious and articulated. Links Presentation Slides 'An experiment unlike any other': Father-son duo build first house of its kind...
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