Introducing the STREAM Initiative

February 03, 2021 Posted by: Chris Hill Category: blog

Centerbrook is taking a big step. We’re melding data with empathy to redouble our nearly five decades of work reducing energy use on every building we create.

Spurred on by a new generation of eco-minded practitioners, we’ve launched an office-wide initiative to further integrate environmental stewardship into all aspects of our practice. Drawing inspiration from our attachment to the Falls River, whose flow beneath our building we harness for electricity, we’re calling it the STREAM Initiative (Sustainable Technologies and Research for Ecological Architecture and Making).

A STREAM Team, led by Misha Semenov and Mark Herter, is focusing on three areas: Analysis and Impacts, Education and Dissemination, and Office as Laboratory. They recently announced initiatives to leverage design software, enhance our staff’s capabilities, strive toward energy reduction goals, refine and deploy analysis hardware, and bolster office recycling. With these efforts, we aim to strengthen our commitment to a more resilient future.

February 03, 2021 Posted by: Chris Hill Category: blog

Analysis & Impacts

Energy Analysis
Utilize in-house energy analysis software to iteratively optimize all our 2021 projects.

EUI Reduction
Reach our EUI (Energy Use Intensity) goal of 60% reduction from baseline across our portfolio, inching closer to our 2030 Challenge goal of zero net carbon buildings by 2030.

Embodied Impact
Develop measurable strategies to reduce embodied carbon emissions and product life cycle impacts in our projects.

Education & Dissemination

Green Education
Offer enhanced green education opportunities in collaboration with local organizations.

Staff Accreditation
Encourage staff accreditation with the U.S. Green Building Council, the International Well Building Institute, the Passive House Institute, and the International Living Future Institute.

Inspirational Updates
Provide regular updates on our website and social media channels.

Evocative Diagrams
Debut a digital gallery of architectural drawings that evocatively diagram the sustainable systems employed on our most significant green projects.

Office as Laboratory

Test greenPEAS
Test and refine our prototype Portable Environmental Analysis System (greenPEAS) in our office.

Deploy greenPEAS
Deploy the greenPEAS device in at least one of our projects.

Regenerative Recycling
Enhance our ability to process office organic waste on site with a food scrap composter.