At our September monthly Building Science Guild meeting, Sam Beall of Duncan Wisniewski Architecture in Burlington will offer the construction drawings for the Groundworks Collaborative building for input from the Guild. There has already been a successful project management review and now Sam is strategically presenting the prints for feedback prior to decisions being “baked-in”.
Below is a summary from Sam Beall as to where things stand.
“The Groundworks Collaborative (GW) is redeveloping their drop in center site on South Main to better serve their staff and clients. The project team includes Duncan Wisniewski Architecture (Architect), GPI Construction (Construction Manager), Engineering Services of Vermont (M,P, and E), and Engineering Ventures (Civil). The design team has recently begun construction drawings. GW has purchased the neighboring property to the north of their current drop in center at 60 South Main. This building will be demolished to make room for a new building on the north half of the parcel. 60 South Main will be partially demolished and rehabilitated for office space. The new building will feature additional offices, program space, and resource space for people experiencing housing insecurity. In the winter months, this building will function as their Seasonal Overflow Shelter (SOS). For 6 months of the year, the building will be occupied 24/7, with the building transforming from a sleeping space to a daytime resource space twice a day. Much of the design attempts to ease to this daily transformation. Client privacy and safety are sometimes in conflict – balancing these twin goals has required tough choices.
As we work towards better understanding GW’s needs, we are working to optimize our envelope and mechanical systems and make this building energy efficient, low carbon, and low maintenance. Robert Kaplan of Efficiency Vermont is assisting the project with this process. Sam Beall of Duncan Wisniewski Architecture and Anthony Girard of GPI Construction will present the project as it stands, reviewing the design, envelope, and initial mechanical basis of design. Our hope is to make this project fossil fuel free and net zero ready. These goals must be tested against the budget and vetted to ensure we’re using limited resources in the most efficient way possible. We look forward to this opportunity for best thinking and peer review from the Brattleboro area building science community.”
Building Science Guild meetings are held on the 4th Wednesday of the month from 4-6:30 pm.
Please let us know if you plan to attend by emailing admin@buildingscience.org.
SEON’s Conference Room, (Friends of the Sun building, use door on rt. side of bldg, 2nd fl.), 532 Putney Rd., Brattleboro, VT