Sustainable/Green Design

The concepts of sustainable design that improve a building’s quality and livability are considerations factored into every Dore & Whittier project. From the firm’s perspective, a high-performance building must incorporate several factors to be successful: It must be a healthy and productive place to live and learn. It must be energy efficient and cost effective to operate and maintain. And it must consider sustainability in a micro and macro sense – both as it relates to individual systems and the project as a whole.

As stewards of architecture and the environment, Dore & Whittier is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and actively assists clients through the LEED™ certification process. Dore & Whittier is always seeking appropriate and commonsense ways to apply the principles of sustainable design to the firm’s projects. In addition, the firm has taken a leadership role in developing energy-related design criteria for schools and other public buildings throughout New England.

Dore & Whittier takes an integrated approach to sustainable design, in which a building’s systems and design elements are considered holistically, including:

• LEED™ certification and documentation for submission to the USGBC
• Computer modeling to accurately consider the effects and   project savings of various systems
• Full and early participation in utility-sponsored incentive programs
• Independent building-system commissioning
• Daylighting design for efficiency, productivity and comfort
• Indoor environmental design, including air quality, acoustics, thermal comfort and building material selection
• Construction impacts and waste reduction
• Renewable energy generation, biomass heating systems, organic wastewater treatment and water conservation and management