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At the 2019 BSA/AIA Design Award Gala held on January 17th, Arrowstreet was honored with a citation in the Campus and Urban Planning category for the MIT Green Roof Study.

MIT’s 169-acre campus of 133 buildings with over 2.5M sf of roof area encompassing over 42% of MIT’s land area, offering enormous potential for implementing sustainable roofs and sites throughout the campus. MIT’s Plan for Action on Climate Change includes the goal of reducing campus carbon emissions by 32% by 2030. Arrowstreet was commissioned to perform a study and develop a tool that will assist in evaluating options for making MIT campus buildings more sustainable by identifying methods to integrate sustainability into its annual roof replacement program. Arrowstreet and our partners developed an interactive tool to identify opportunities to integrate sustainable roof types such as Increased Thermal Insulation, Vegetated (Green) Roofs, Blue Roofs, Solar and Building Integrated Photovoltaics, and Hybrid Roofs into MIT’s roof replacement program.

Arrowstreet collaborated with key stakeholders and assisted the Department of Facilities Capital Renewal Program and Office of Sustainability by identifying their sustainable roof goals across campus, providing a framework for potential strategies, and identifying opportunities. The three-stage process included: setting goals, developing the planning tool, and surveying existing conditions for 20 buildings. The report will allow MIT to develop campus plan strategies and prioritize improvements that lower greenhouse gas emissions, maximize energy savings, improve stormwater management, increase biodiversity, reduce the urban heat island effect, increase energy production, and provide more educational/research opportunities. The Planner Tool is used by teams in Campus Construction, Maintenance and Utilities, the Office of Campus Planning and the Office of Sustainability to support MIT’s annual roof replacement program.

Topics: Awards, AIA, Award, BSA, Honors and Awards, Technology, Planning, Sustainability