CBE Wins Catalyst Energy Innovation Award

CBE's Livable Analytics team is among the 
seven winners chosen at the Catalyst Energy 
Innovation Prize Demo Day.

The Center for the Built Environment (CBE) was a winner at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Catalyst Energy Innovation Prize Demo Dayheld in December in Philadelphia, PA. The award will provide funding of $100,000 to advance the work of Livable Analytics, an in-house venture that provides occupant survey tools to assess and understand occupant satisfaction and interaction within commercial buildings. The demo day award represents the culmination of a two-phase competition; in a previous phase, the Livable Analytics team submitted a five-minute video pitch to qualify for $25,000 in software development services and to compete in a prototyping competition. 

With the new funding from the Catalyst program, the team will further improve its software and visualization tools, expand outreach and training, develop tools for new project types, and greatly increase the number of surveys being conducted. These tools represent an expansion of CBE’s occupant survey, a unique resource that has been implemented in over 1,000 buildings around the world, with over 100,000 participants to date. This work has been done in collaboration with CBE’s Industry Partners, who support and guide the center’s research and advance the adoption of its innovations. 

For more information, read the full news release.

CBE mentioned on NPR

CBE researcher David Lehrer was recently interviewed for a piece on NPR, focusing on worker productivity. You can listen to the complete story here.

SERA Architects joins CBE consortium

Portland-based firm SERA Architects recently joined CBE as the leader on a membership team (formerly the Integral Group team, who recently joined CBE as an individual member). As a multi-discipline firm committed to the built environment, SERA offers expertise in integrated architecture, urban design and planning, and interior design. Their design approach stresses urban infill, reuse and redevelopment as important strategies for creating a new sense of community.

SERA has worked on projects in many different settings, including education facilities, civic projects, hospitality, housing, workplace, non-profit, and more. Some of their recently completed projects include the Edith Green - Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in Portland; the Washington High redevelopment, which turned a 1924 historic brick building in Portland into a hub of creativity and office spaces (photo below); many hotel renovations (including the Courtyard by Marriott in San Diego and the Pearl District Residence Inn in Portland); and Burnside 26, a mixed-use building featuring housing and retail space.

Washington High School, located in Portland, OR, restored to
become office and creative space. Image: SERA Architects.

CBE successful with three major grants to support future research

CBE is proud to announce that we have recently been awarded three grants to support our research on radiant systems, personal comfort, and monitoring/controls of commercial buildings. There are a number of firms that contributed to the success of our grants, and we look forward to expanding our research portfolio with this new funding. The work will begin this summer. Read more in the announcement linked below, and be on the lookout for future updates on these new projects.

Read more >>

Meet our new partner: Ingersoll Rand

Global industrial leader Ingersoll Rand is the newest company to join the CBE consortium. They work to enhance the quality and comfort of air in homes and buildings; transport and protect food and perishables; and increase industrial productivity and efficiency. With a history dating back to 1871, Ingersoll Rand and its family of brands (including Trane, Club Car, and Thermo King) represents a proven history in residential, industrial and commercial markets.

Ingersoll Rand aims to inspire progress through unleashing the potential in people and technologies to advance the quality of life. By making environments comfortable, sustainable and efficient, they enable their customers to achieve real progress and create a positive impact in their world.

We look forward to collaborating with their staff as we investigate innovative approaches to a sustainable built environment!

New edition of Centerline available

Don’t miss the Winter edition of Centerline, available online now! In this issue, we feature pro bono work, news on recently awarded grants, introduce you to the newest CBE partners, and more.

Read Centerline >>

Livable Buildings 2014 Winners Announced

CBE is proud to announce the winners of the 7th annual Livable Buildings Award!

In August of 2014, a jury of CBE Industry Partners selected the David & Lucile Packard Foundation Headquarters in Los Altos, California, as the winner of the 2014 Livable Buildings Award. The DPR Southwest Headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, was recognized with an honorable mention. These projects meet the highest standards for providing healthy and productive indoor environments, and represent best practices for sustainability and overall design.

These winning projects, along with the other award finalists, ranked among the top scorers in CBE's Occupant Indoor Environmental Quality Survey. The survey, used to study occupant satisfaction with the quality of the indoor environment, has been implemented in over 650 buildings around the globe.

Read more about the award here >>