By Ritchie Lafaille, Office Fellow
Matthew Rice, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, MCPPO
Mr. Rice is a Senior Associate and Project Architect at SMMA with over 15 years of professional experience. During his career, he has focused on large and complex projects in the institutional market including high schools for Quincy, Swampscott, Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District and Turners Falls. Currently, he is engaged in two comprehensive – combined academic and vocational – high schools for the cities of Somerville and Waltham. Each of these projects are opportunities to support what he sees as the future of education, the melding ofexperiential and theoretical learning, where each energizes the other.
These projects also support his interest in mitigating and reversing the adverse environmental impacts that can stem from design and construction. The magnitude of these projects represents a tremendous opportunity to positively affect municipal energy consumption. And, as educational projects, they also offer an opportunity to instruct future generations on the importance of sustainability, and therefore multiply the positive ecological impact. Matt supports his passion for sustainable design by committing to the latest uses of digital technology, enabling him to better guide the design process through programming, visualization, and information modeling.
As a certified LEED AP, Matt is especially supportive of the USGBC’s LEED rating system, having found that it creates a framework with which SMMA can engage in meaningful discussions with clients about sustainability. Even when clients do not pursue LEED certification, the rubric still aids in prioritizing targeted sustainable design features.
Check out SMMA’s Sustainability in Schools for more information on how the firm and Matt support sustainable school design.