LEED Case Study: ZHANG CENTER FOR BRAIN SCIENCES – FAS

Project Highlights

The Zhang Lab and the Center for Brain Sciences (CBS) Lab are located on the third floor of the Harvard University Northwest Labs Building at 52 Oxford Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Along with several other labs located within the Northwest Labs Building, the Zhang Lab was a fit-out that set a goal to achieve LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) v3 Gold certification. The 3,130 square foot lab is used by students and faculty to investigate causal, developmental, functional, and evolutionary aspects of animal behavior. This includes analyzing genetic, neural and psychological mechanisms underlying behavior, as well as their evolutionary consequences in terms of specification and diversification. Research is conducted both in the Zhang laboratory as well as field populations. Because of the resource intensity of lab science and the unique conditions and requirements in each individual lab within the Northwest building, lab sustainability approaches must be made from both a building wide perspective, as well as a granular perspective aimed at identifying local opportunities at the lab level. FAS Green Labs Program initiatives, with the support of paid lab sustainability representatives, help mitigate resource intensity, while respecting the resource demands of science.