We are pleased to announce the MIT.nano building has won an AIA COTE® Top Ten Award—the design industry’s highest honor for significant achievements in advancing climate action.
Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, the LEED Platinum certified building is prominently located steps from the Infinite Corridor and the Great Dome, at the heart of the campus.
“This award acknowledges MIT and HGA’s commitment to advancing environmentally responsible design and planning,” said Bill Wilson, FAIA, Vice President and Principal with HGA. “Research labs are among the most energy-intensive buildings on college campuses. Yet by working closely with a forward-looking client focused on solving global challenges, we achieved new benchmarks in sustainable design, resilient planning, and regenerative land use that will serve as a model for future campus planning.”
Located at the heart of campus, MIT.nano consolidates MIT’s nanotechnology, materials, and engineering systems into a single research building to maximize collaboration and nanoscale research in health, energy, computing, and other emerging fields.
The building includes class 100 and 1,000 cleanrooms, imaging suites, makerspace, and chemistry teaching laboratories.
“MIT.nano addresses some of humanity’s greatest challenges—from sustainable energy to clean water to finding a cure for cancer,” said Samir Srouji, AIA, LEED AP, Associate Vice President and Principal with HGA. “To achieve MIT’s research and sustainability goals, we benchmarked peer institutions’ cleanrooms and other similar facilities to exceed state-of-the-art practices for cleanroom design. Architecturally, MIT.nano’s design is highly transparent, inviting the community to observe the research within while placing the energy-efficient systems poetically on display.”
Sustainable strategies incorporate more than 60 energy conservation measures—including a heat recover system and high-performance curtain wall—resulting in 51 percent energy cost savings and 50 percent greenhouse gas emissions reduction over industry standards for a cleanroom building.
Additional features include water conservation measures, stormwater management, flood-plain resilience planning, and heat-island reduction goals within the campus Stormwater and Landscape Ecology Masterplan, transforming a brownfield site into an inviting pedestrian walkway enhanced with permeable hardscapes and native plantings.
Opened in 2018, MIT.nano has won the 2019 Lab of the Year Award by R&D magazine, AIA Education Facility Design Award of Merit, ACEC Grand Award for Engineering Excellence, I2SL Go Beyond Award by the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories, and Boston Society for Architecture Honor Award.
About COTE® Top Ten Awards
For the past 25 years, COTE has bestowed the award annually on 10 design projects that have expertly integrated design excellence with cutting-edge performance in 10 key areas. The COTE Top Ten projects illustrate the solutions architects provide for the health and welfare of our communities and planet.
To be eligible, project submissions are required to demonstrate alignment with COTE’s rigorous criteria, which include social, economic, and ecological values. The five-member jury evaluates each project submission based on the effectiveness of their holistic design solution and metrics associated with the 10 measures.
For more information, visit AIA COTE® Top Ten Awards.