Green Giants Award Winners 2015

By Derek Newberry, Advocacy Fellow

Green Giants 2015

Written by Kylie Landry, of USGBC MA West Branch

The West Branch of the USGBC Massachusetts Chapter was honored to present the 2015 Green Giants with their awards on Tuesday night! Thank you to the Western Mass AIA for co-hosting a wonderful event to celebrate green building, education and innovation in practice. Thanks also to everyone who made it happen including this year’s sponsor, PeoplesBank, without whom the program would not have been possible.

The event was a great success and was held in the festive Red Barn at Hampshire College. The WMAIA started off the night with the presentation of two student scholarship awards for exceptional design submittals of student work. Two University of Massachusetts Masters of Architecture students were recognized: Peng Zhang and Lukasz Czarniecki.

Following a lovely dinner, we heard from Wright Builders about their collaborative design process for the Kern Center, a Living Building Challenge project being constructed on the Hampshire campus. Hampshire College president, Jonathan Lash, was in attendance as well, and provided inspiring insight into the Living Building Challenge process from the college’s perspective. Very much in the spirit of the evening, both parties shared innovative and collaborative instances of problem solving at play to make the project a reality for Hampshire.

The night concluded with the USGBCMA West Branch presentation of awards in each of the three Green Giants categories. We want to thank all those who submitted a stellar collection of nominations, with a total of 33 nominees. We would also like to thank our Boston counterpart for their man hours to act as jury in selecting the Green Giants winners. They chose to award 10 nominees within the 3 categories, as well as a lifetime achievement award. The 2015 Green Giant awardees are as follows:

Lifetime Achievement Award: Peter Talmage, for his lifetime passion for learning about, teaching and engaging in the conversation about sustainable design.  Peter is well known in the sustainable design community, but is particularly well-known as a founding technical instructor for the Greenfield Community College Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Program.

Trades Category

• Honorable Mention:
  • Sean Jeffords, Beyond Green Construction
  • Joe Miles and Andy Clogston of r.k. Miles Lumber Yard
• Runner-up: Kent Hicks, Kent Hicks Construction
• Green Giant Award: Mark Newey for his work at the Center for Eco Technology

Education Category

• Honorable Mention: NESEA- Building Energy PRO-TOURS, Miryam Aylward & Jenny Goldberg
• Runner-Up: Kathleen Lugosch, Professor& Master of Architecture Program Director, U. Mass.
• Green Giant Award: The U. Mass. Building & Construction Technology Department, nominated by Alexander C. Schreyer

Owner Category

• Honorable Mention: Wright Builders for their investment in green construction at Village Hill
• Runner-Up: Jonathan Lash and Hampshire College for their investment in the R.W. Kern Center
• Green Giant Award: Amy Johns, Director, Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives, Class of 1966 Environmental Center, Williams College

Read the West Branch's press release for a full description of award winners.

Congratulations to all the 2015 Green Giants, and to the West Branch of our Chapter for hosting this great event! We're already looking forward to next year.