Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction, LEED BD+C: New Construction, LEED BD+C: New Construction

Rating System Version

v2 - LEED 2.0, v2 - LEED 2.2, v2 - LEED 2.2

Inquiry

Harvard Cowperthwaite Residence Hall, located in Cambridge, MA, is a six story, graduate student dormitory with 201 beds in 142 living units. The new building will include three levels of below grade parking, which has vehicle access at the grade level of the first floor of the residence hall. The above-grade portion is 102,036 SF and the below-grade portion is 106,307 SF, for a total of 208,343 SF. This new building is being constructed on the site of a grade level flat paved parking lot. The footprint of the garage is actually larger than the footprint of the residence hall to accommodate the college\'s parking needs. We intend to keep all of the garage within the scope of the LEED project, along with the residence hall. There will also be a 3-story wood frame residential building built above the footprint of the garage that is detached from the main 5-story residence hall. The three-story wood frame building is an additional 4,168 SF, with five additional beds in three apartments. This 3-story building will be supplied with heating hot water and chilled water from the plant in the 6-story building. The project team would like to exclude the 3-story wood frame building from the LEED project scope. The three story wood frame building is not covered by ASHRAE 90.1 - 1999, while the 6-story residence hall is covered by ASHRAE 90.1. The wood frame building is also covered by a different section of the Massachusetts Building and Energy Code than the 6-story residence hall. Therefore, we propose to make the LEED boundary include the underground parking garage but exclude the 3-story wood frame building by drawing the boundary horizontally below the wood frame and above the garage. We would propose to keep this LEED project scope of work boundary consistent through all the credits we are pursing. Please confirm that this approach is acceptable.