Assessing Carbon Impacts of Brutalist Concrete Buildings: Case Study of Lincoln Campus Center, Amherst, MA

Building owners and preservation professionals are facing an ever-increasing environmental imperative to demonstrate whether renovating and reusing existing buildings is indeed the more efficient pathway to reaching carbon reduction goals. University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), like many other organizations that own vast and varied existing building stock, outlined a path to reach carbon neutrality that is many years ahead of the 2050 target set by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to decarbonize statewide energy systems. UMass’ net zero carbon plan includes, among other actionable items, renovating viable existing facilities to improve energy performance. This industry imperative requires validation and use of quick and accurate decision-making tools that will help us to collectively think more creatively about each building’s contribution towards reaching carbon neutrality. This case study presents the results of a research project focused on developing a framework for estimating the embodied and operational carbon impacts of retaining and renewing an existing architecturally significant brutalist concrete building—the UMass Lincoln Campus Center, designed in 1970 by Marcel Breuer & Associates, Architects. The study incorporates existing building information and specifications to calibrate and utilize various industry-accepted energy modeling and life cycle assessment tools within the historically and technically appropriate context of the building and to propose retrofit/intervention options needed to help meet campus carbon reduction goals. This graduate student-led research project is a collaboration between UMassBRUT, UMass Amherst’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, and the Association for Preservation Technology’s Northeast Chapter. The research aims to inform low-carbon renewal approaches for similar brutalist build-ings in the Northeast and to provide a framework that can be adapted and applied in the sustainable stewardship of other architecturally significant structures. This case study also encourages future collaborations between academic, advocacy, and industry professionals in the mission to reduce environmental impacts associated with the preservation industry.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AIA.InterMaterialEco.23.7

Volume Editors
Caryn Brause & Chris Flint Chatto