HMFH Architects
HMFH Earns IES Illumination Awards
We are excited to announce that the Hastings Early Education Center in Westborough, MA, and the Coolidge Corner School in Brookline MA, have both received awards from the Illumination Engineering Society (IES).
Hastings Early Education Center | Merit Award for Energy Efficiency and Section Award for Interior Lighting
In the design of this early education center, providing balanced, bright, and evenly day lit learning spaces was a central goal. The interior lighting design is key in achieving a learning environment that is child-centric and visually comfortable for the school’s youngest learners.
Circular skylights and curved soffits are playful wayfinding elements in the lobby and mirror the colorful floor pattern. In the hallways, thin, linear fixtures “march” down the area just as students walk in lines.
The skylights in the lobby and in classrooms bring daylight throughout the spaces, creating a welcoming environment for students and promoting a healthy circadian rhythm. To orient the skylights to maximize daylight, the team conducted daylight autonomy studies.
With skylights in each classroom, the reliance on artificial light is reduced. Daylight harvesting, linear fixtures rated for 100,000 hours, and a control system fully integrated into the Building Management System, further reduce energy usage and help the project achieve a Projected Energy Use Intensity of 31kBtu/SF/yr.
Coolidge Corner School | Section Award for Energy Efficiency
The need for large, complex spaces to support 1,000 students in this 227,000 SF PK-8 school was balanced with goals for an energy-efficient building. The design team was also tasked with the preservation of elements of the original, historically significant building while maintaining cohesion with the new additions. The lighting design both establishes connections between old and new, and, with efficient choices throughout, reduces energy usage and helps the building achieve a Projected Energy Use Intensity of 26 kBtu/SF/yr, making the Coolidge Corner School one of the most energy-efficient schools in the Commonwealth.
Linear fixtures lead users through the building, transitioning smoothly from the historic entrance to the new lobby. The lights are wayfinding elements that make the large areas easily navigable even for the youngest students. To ensure a comfortable environment, brightness from skylights and linear fixtures at their edges balance light from large windows at the ends of corridors.
These skylights, along with daylight harvesting and other high-performance choices, exceed energy efficiency goals and helped the project achieve its pending LEED Gold status.
