By Alexander Landa, Outreach and Communications Manger
Congratulations to all who participated in the biggest and best Showcase ever!
It was amazing and wonderful to see the Chapter community come together to celebrate some really great green buildings.
Green Building Showcase 2016 was a huge success! We want to thank all of you for attending what is one of the most important nights of the year for us. Without you, this event wouldn't happen. All of the speakers, sponsors, volunteers, and the community as a whole all helped bring this night to life, and it came out great.
Of course, one of the best parts of this event was simply being inside the beautiful 888 Boylston building. 888 Boylston proves how far we've come with technology and innovation. Not only is it absolutely gorgeous, both inside and outside, it's also environmentally-friendly (otherwise it wouldn't be the best place to hold an event, obviously). With an awesome view of the city, unique lighting, and modern amenities, this is proof that green buildings can be fun as well as incredibly practical. At least one point during the event, everyone in attendance stopped, looked around, and said “This building is beautiful.” They aren't wrong.
The night started with a lot of energy right off the bat. For what was probably the only time this will ever happen, over half of the attendees arrived early. We're going to assume this is proof that everyone was really excited to be there! Once everyone got upstairs and settled in, everyone went straight to networking and enjoying the heavy apps and drinks. Before speakers went on stage, everyone had the chance to check out the boards and vote for their favorite entries in the Green Building Market Leadership Award Series. It wasn't easy to pick favorites with all of the amazing entries.
From there, the stars of the night took the stage to deliver some enlightening and energetic speeches. Bryan Koop, Liyang Wang, Mark Stafford, Austin Blackmon, and Grey Lee all showed why the room was packed, and why the Green Building industry deserves to be in the spotlight. These are the people changing Boston for the better, modernizing our wonderful city and giving an already-historical city more landmarks to stick out. Also thanks to Rick Fedrizzi for attending!
To wrap up the night on a good note, the winners were announced. The winners of all 8 categories went up to the stage to claim their awards, ending with the Green Building of the Year Award. The winners were:
Water Efficiency: HDR, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
Energy Efficiency: Columbia Construction Company, Fisheries & Wildlife New Field Headquarters
Site: HDR, Thea & James M. Stoneman Centennial Park at Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Health and Wellness: Elkus Manfredi, New Balance Headquarters
Social Equity: The Green Engineer, Boston Public Library Johnson Building Renovation
Resilience: The Green Engineer, Smuttynose Brewery
Materials: CannonDesign, Novartis Cambridge Campus Expansion
The judges created a Green Building of the Year Special Merit Award for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Fisheries & Wildlife Headquarters building due to it's exemplary performance as a large net zero energy building that they felt needs to be seen more often.
And in the end, the 2016 Green Building of the Year went to Elkus Manfredi for their entry of the LEED Platinum New Balance Headquarters in Allson!
The night didn't end there, of course. What would an event be without with more networking, exchanging business cards, meeting new people, and of course, desserts and drinks. No one was seen with a frown at the end – the entire floor was filled with laughter, handshakes, hugs, and smiles all around. Who wouldn't have fun in the wonderful 888 Boylston and free food/drinks?
Again, we want to thank everyone for coming. Without all of your support, this night wouldn't have happened. Thanks to the major sponsors, the host Boston Properties, the awards committee, judges, the various volunteer teams from Turner, Elkus Manfredi, Duplessy, the bartending staff, and especially the many speakers for creating contributing to a great time.
We can't wait for next year's event, and for everything else in-between now and then.
If you didn't get the chance to see September 2016's newsletter, you can catch up with everything going on here.
Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Global Head of Sustainability, Superior Essex
Sustainability Director, Steven Winter Associates
PE | Associate, LeMessurier
Vice President, AEW’s Architecture & Engineering group
Interior Designer, Jacobs, Boston
Senior Vice President, Market Transformation and Development U.S. Green Building Council
AIA LEED AP BD+C | Senior Associate, Gensler Boston 
LEED Fellow, WELL AP | Founder and Principal, Ecoworks Studio
AIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP
LEED AP BD+C | Environmental Sustainability Manager, Armstrong World Industries
Assistant Professor of Exposure Science | Director of the Healthy Buildings program
Managing Director, Harvard University Office for Sustainability
Principal & Director of Certifications and Consulting, Epsten Group, Inc.
Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility, Jamestown
Director of Sustainability Programs, DASNY | LEED AP BD+C
Associate Principal, BuroHappold Engineering
Senior Vice President, Sustainability at Kilroy Realty Corporation
Co-Founder, Facilitator at The Laurentia Project | LEED AP BD+C, LFA
Vice President of Sustainable Development, Shaw
Founder and President, Board of the Healthy Building Network
Building Technology Director, Kingspan North America
LEED® AP ID+C, BD+C, USGBC Faculty, WELL® AP, WELL Faculty and Fitwel Ambassador
Workplace Strategy Expert and Researcher, EYP
Principal, Integrated Ecostrategy
Senior Vice President, International WELL Building Institute
Principal, Bruner/Cott
Architect, Associate, and Sustainability Design Leader, Stantec Architecture and Engineering
FAIA, LEED Fellow, Long Green Specs
Products & Materials Specialist, BuildingGreen
Director of Acquisitions and Development
Director of Restorative Enterprise, Interface
Sustainability Manager, Consigli Construction Company