Suffolk Delivers State-of-the-Art Boston University Center for Computing & Data Sciences in Stunning and Sustainable Addition to Boston Skyline
Suffolk successfully delivers largest fossil-fuel-free building in Boston history; team installs 1,500-foot-deep geothermal bores that harness Earth’s thermal resources underground to heat and cool building
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Suffolk, one of the largest and most innovative real estate and construction enterprises in the country, successfully delivered the Boston University Center for Computing & Data Sciences. The nineteen-story, 345,000 square foot facility, which is the tallest building on Boston University’s urban Charles River campus, is the university’s most energy-efficient building and one of the most sustainable buildings in all of Massachusetts.
“We are honored and privileged to deliver one of the most sustainable and sophisticated buildings to the Boston University campus and City of Boston,” said John Fish, Chairman and CEO of Suffolk. “This iconic building is a striking addition to the Boston skyline and a tribute to the leadership and prestige of Boston University, the world-class stature of the City of Boston, the importance of sustainable design and construction, and the future of research and education.”
The facility itself is designed with intellectual collaboration in mind, featuring an all-glass interior that creates transparency and invites light deep into the building. The unique design of the structure, which is composed of a series of floorplates shifted and cantilevered around the building’s central core, creates a vertically stacked and staggered layout of “neighborhoods” for each academic discipline.
The Boston University Center for Computing & Data Sciences building is the first of its kind on the school’s campus and in the City of Boston. This unique, complex and sustainable building is one hundred percent fossil fuel free due to a geothermal bore system installed by Suffolk. The Suffolk team drilled and installed thirty-one bores, each approximately 1,500 feet deep into the earth, or approximately twice as deep as the tallest structure in Boston is high. The bores harness the thermal resources of the earth to heat and cool the building without the need to connect to a gas line, putting Boston University ahead of schedule for Carbon Free Boston, the city’s 2050 carbon neutrality goal.
The new facility also features triple-glazed windows that help contain heat inside the building, beautifully designed staircases that reduce elevator use and promote energy reduction, and terraces and green roofs that offer stunning views and reduce the urban heat island effect.
The new building will be home to Boston University’s Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences interdisciplinary academic unit, as well as a number of other departments and faculty members from throughout the University.
About Suffolk
Suffolk is a national enterprise that invests, innovates, and builds. Suffolk is an end-to-end business that provides value throughout the entire project lifecycle by leveraging its core construction management services with vertical service lines that include real estate capital investment, design, self-perform construction services, technology start-up investment and innovation research/development.
Suffolk is a national company with $5.0 billion in annual revenue, 2,500 employees and main offices in Boston (headquarters), New York, Miami, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Estero, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego. Suffolk serves clients in every major industry sector, including healthcare, science and technology, education, gaming, transportation/aviation, and commercial. Suffolk is privately held and is led by founder, chairman and CEO John Fish. Suffolk is ranked #23 on the Engineering News Record list of “Top 400 Contractors.” For more information, visit www.suffolk.com and follow Suffolk on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.
Contacts
Dan Antonellis, 617-517-4232, DAntonellis@suffolk.com
