Project Spotlight: Cognex Lobby Renovation

We recently completed a major renovation for Cognex's 4-story lobby in Natick.  Check out the photos below!

GRLA Receives AIA Central Massachusetts Merit Award

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Central Massachusetts Chapter has honored Gorman Richardson Lewis Architects with a Merit Award for their design of a sustainable corporate headquarters and distribution center that is among the greenest buildings in the United States.  The 160,000 SF project for Subaru of New England has been certified LEED Platinum—the highest rating awarded by the United States Green Building Council.  The client, Subaru of New England, set a mandate for the project: the new headquarters needed to meet the high standards for sustainability set by its parent brand, which is the nation’s first Zero Landfill automaker. 

The project is the highest rated LEED project in Massachusetts!

To meet this challenge, GRLA’s architecture, interior design, and building envelope teams got to work, providing a sleek, modern design with sustainable features throughout. The LEED certification process is rigorous, and awards points for building elements that increase efficiency, use fewer resources such as water and electricity, and make the indoor environment comfortable and safe with non-toxic and low-emitting building materials.  The Subaru of New England project received 86 points out of a possible 110.   

GRLA also worked closely with consulting engineers WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, Landscape Architect BSC Group, and Columbia Construction Company on the project.  The project includes solar panels, a highly efficient “chilled beam” heating and cooling system, a high-performing building envelope, drought-resistant landscaping, low-flow plumbing fixtures, recycled and sustainably-sourced building materials, and LED lighting throughout.  The project is the highest-rated LEED project in Massachusetts, and the largest privately-owned LEED Platinum* building in the U.S.!  

GRLA received its award at the AIA of Central Massachusetts awards dinner on November 19 at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston. 

To learn more about the project and see photos, click here.

*For new construction, LEED v.2009

GRLA Celebrates 40 Years in Business with 40 Ways of Giving Back

Hopkinton, MA—As Gorman Richardson Lewis Architects (GRLA) celebrates four decades in business, the firm is embarking on a special program of volunteering, pro bono design services, and charitable giving.   Called the 40 for 40 Commitment, GRLA is working on forty initiatives that contribute to the community in a meaningful way—one for each year that the firm has been in business.  At the firm’s 40th Year Celebration Gala on June 6, GRLA Principals Mike Gorman, Scott Richardson, and Steve Lewis announced the program, challenging the firm to work with 40 different Non-Profit Organizations over the course of the year, offering services, raising money, and volunteering time.

Currently, GRLA is working with the MetroWest YMCA on interior upgrades, as well as assisting the Performing Arts Center of MetroWest on relocation options, and The Boys and Girls Club of MetroWest for temporary heating options.  GRLA also contributed services to the United Way’s Wheat Café in Clinton for their recent relocation project.

Since 1976, GRLA has nurtured a company culture that emphasizes service to others and working with organizations that contribute to the broader community.  In addition to an extensive portfolio of corporate clients, GRLA is proud to have worked with the EcoTarium Museum, Danforth Museum of Art, Hopkinton Center for the Arts, Performing Arts Center of MetroWest, SMOC, The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Chestnut Hill Foundation, Advocates, and many other not-for-profit organizations that positively impact life here in Massachusetts.