Located in Somerville’s Davis Square, 7th Spoke was envisioned as a mixed-use development including street level retail spaces with office and high-end laboratory spaces above. The design included the renovation of two existing buildings along Day Street and a new four-story structure between Elm Street and Herbert Street. The redevelopment strategy included a new dynamic pedestrian plaza between the three structures that engaged the highly active Davis Square area.
The structural design included extensive foundation and superstructure design considerations for the congested urban area. RFS worked closely with the owner, construction manager, and geotechnical engineer to develop support of excavation strategies to maintain adjacent street and existing structures and be incorporated into the final building foundations. The proposed development also connected all three independent structures with a new infill structure between the two Day Street buildings and an elevated pedestrian walkway over the plaza from the new four-story structure to the infill structure.
RFS performed comprehensive energy modeling and MEP/FP design strategies to ensure the design met the strict requirements of the Somerville Zero Net Energy District and LEED Platinum Certification. The design included an all-electric solution utilizing air-to-water heat pumps as the primary energy source with supplement electric boilers and heat recovery chiller. Ventilation systems for the laboratory spaces included high-dilution, high plume fans for fume hood exhaust with a glycol heat recovery system to capture waste heat from the exhaust air stream. Overall, the design provided a 37% reduction in site energy usage and a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions when compared to the baseline building performance.
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120,000 sf
Architect
Perkins&Will
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