First “Passive Building” Residence Hall in Massachusetts, Designed by SGA at Wheaton College, Cuts Operating Costs by 50 Percent

BOSTON— SGA, a Boston and New York-based national award-winning architecture, interior design, planning, branded environments and virtual design construction firm, announced that Massachusetts’ first “Passive House” Residence Hall is certified with PHIUS (Passive House Institute US Certified), indicating top energy performance. Since it opened in August 2019, operating costs have been cut by 50%.

The four-story, 45,000-square-foot building was designed by SGA, and includes 178 beds of undergraduate housing.

“We have been thrilled to present Pine Hall as Passive House construction. People are incredibly impressed by the efficiency that this building is designed to achieve,” said Ed Burnett, Associate Dean for Campus Life at Wheaton College “The new residence hall is a source of pride, not only for the residents who live there, but also the community as a whole.”

Passive building design implements “a set of design principles used to attain a quantifiable and rigorous level of energy efficiency within a specific comfort level.” (as laid out by PHIUS) Energy efficiency stems from continuous insulation throughout an airtight building envelope, high-performance windows, balanced heat- and moisture-recovery ventilation, management of solar gain, and elimination of thermal bridging. Certification with PHIUS ensures that energy performance in reality aligns with energy modeling targets.

Following these principles, SGA designed Pine Hall at Wheaton College to achieve PHIUS certification. It is the first PHIUS-certified residence hall in Massachusetts. Since August, students have enjoyed living in Pine Hall, a four-story, 45,000-square-foot building that includes 178 beds of undergraduate housing in addition to shared flexible gathering space that serves the entire lower campus

“The benefits of designing these residence halls to passive house standards are proving out both in terms of student health and wellness, as well as reduced operating costs and energy use, as compared to Massachussetts’s rigourous energy code,” said Al Spagnolo, AIA, NCARB, and President and Founding Partner of SGA.

SGA, a tech-forward architecture and interior design firm, has designed two such residence halls that opened for the fall 2019 semester as the first in Massachusetts to meet the extremely rigorous energy-efficiency standards of PHIUS, at both Wheaton College and Williams College.

“Through these projects, SGA has gained significant experience in applying PHIUS principles. We owe our expertise in part to working with forward thinking clients who are as committed to sustainability and energy performance. We look forward to applying this experience to projects of other similarly advanced clients,” said Mr. Spangolo.

John Sullivan, Assistant Vice President, Business and Physical Plant at Wheaton College, said that his college’s current student body and prospective applicants, along with their parents, are very concerned about climate change and the actionable steps that Wheaton College may be taking to address this threat.

“Pine Hall and its Passive House certification represent the College’s commitment toward lowering our carbon footprint, investing for energy efficiency, integrating performance based system design and achieving low impact development,” said Mr. Sullivan.

In addition to providing responsible design critical for reducing our global environmental footprint, SGA believes that sustainability initiatives are already playing a significant role in students’ criteria for college selection. As the competition for students increases, so will the adoption of PHIUS and other similarly aggressive carbon neutrality strategies and SGA is positioned to implement them without significant additional capital investment.

About SGA

Based in Boston and New York, SGA is an award-winning national architecture, interior design, planning, branded environments practice and virtual design and construction firm. Winner of the Fast Company “Most Innovative Companies” award for architecture, SGA embodies tech-forward design that redefines how projects are visualized and delivered. SGA designs life sciences, higher education, interior design and complex and challenging real estate projects that require imagination, creativity and fresh thinking. The strength of their experienced team is speed to the market, problem solving, fast-track public approvals, and a seamless integration of design, development and construction process. Since its founding in 1991, SGA has delivered over 300 million square feet of completed space.