LeMessurier is honored to have received two Engineering Excellence Awards from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA). These awards recognize outstanding achievements in engineering that demonstrate innovation, complexity, and value to society, qualities embodied in both of the winning projects.
RIT SHED walkway
Gold Award – Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED)
A bold new addition to RIT’s campus, the SHED, designed by William Rawn & Associates, is a dynamic interdisciplinary space that merges technology, art, and design, housing maker spaces, dance studio, and a flexible theater, music studio, makerspaces, classrooms, and gathering areas in one cohesive hub for collaboration and innovation.
The SHED positions engineering as both a visible and functional element of its design. Exposed steel framing, decking, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems reinforce the building’s industrial aesthetic. The double-skin curtain wall and tension wire sunshades serve as a catalyst for discussions on energy efficiency, structural innovation, and architectural design.
Internal Common Area
This facility supports the university’s mission to empower the next generation of thinkers and creators. Its structural design provides openness, with daylight flooding throughout the flexible spaces in a true fusion of engineering and inspiration.
Read the Modern Steel Construction article “Artistic Connections” about the RIT SHED here
Silver Award – Boston University, Duan Family Center for Computing and Data Sciences
BU Duan Family Center for Computing and Data Sciences
This KPMB-designed landmark building redefines Boston’s skyline and stands as one of the country’s greenest and most technologically advanced academic buildings. LeMessurier collaborated on the design of this iconic, cantilevered structure that rises 19 stories above Commonwealth Avenue.
The facility is a dynamic vertical campus building that leverages shifting free-floating volumes representing research neighborhoods, each with its own outdoor terrace. The building’s structure supports these neighborhoods through exposed, two-story perimeter steel trusses that cantilever to hold the offset massing. A slender concrete core reduced the building’s weight, allowing it to be supported by a concrete mat slab bearing on marine clay and eliminating the need for deep foundations. The project employed concrete with portland cement replacement rates of up to 63%, reducing total embodied carbon by 6%.
As one of the city’s most significant fossil–free buildings, the Center reflects Boston University’s commitment to sustainability, interdisciplinary education, and forward-looking design.
Atrium from the street
Read about the Duan Family Center for Computing and Data Sciences in these Structure Magazine articles:
- Boston University Center for Computing and Data Sciences
- Highlight on Sustainability
- Design Assist and Temporary Conditions
These awards recognize engineering excellence and underscore the power of teamwork, technical creativity, and visionary architecture. We congratulate our partners and clients for bringing these projects to life and thank ACEC/MA for this recognition.