LOOK LIKE LOUIS

Notice anything different about Brandeis? You're probably looking at the first projects of Buro Happold?s Boston office: the Shapiro Science Center ('09) and the Mandel Center for Humanities (fall '10). Now, the three-year-old BH office is doing engineering work for the new Colby College Art Museum and the $114M Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum makeover.

We snapped Stratton Newbert, a structural engineer who manages BH?s Fort Point office. He says the UK-based practice decided to open up shop here because Bostonians prefer to work with other locals who know the ropes. ?We're provincial,? says Stratton, himself a Bostonian. If you're in Newburyport, he told us, ?down South? is Danvers.

David MacNeil, who manages the MEP department in the Boston office, is on the front lines for Colby College?s 27k SF Museum of Art created by LA-based Frederick Fisher and Partners. Still in design, 18 months of construction is scheduled to start in the summer. (Remember that season?) David says one challengehas been to fashion a very energy efficient mechanical system for the all-glass, jewel box-style structure. Since glass is not a great insulator, BH will install an energy recovery system and chilled beams in the building, which will go for LEED Silver. It'll also set up a Class-A environmental control system so the art won't be damaged by changes in temperature and humidity. (Translation: Dali's "Melting Clocks" were like that already.)

Pat Hart, a plumbing engineer, and Steve Adeff, an electrical engineer, are on the BH team managing the engineering work for the revamp of the Gardner Museum, a renovation of the historic villa and 70k SF addition. Stratton says the project is due for completion in early ?12 and will have a geothermal system that heats and cools by using the ground. The addition includes an impressive music hall. It's built on a grand scale but with the seating close to the stage, will offer an intimate audience experience. Unfortunately, he can't control all temps: He says he's regretting not buying a snow blower since shoveling is giving him a ?dead right arm.? With a birthday soon, he hopes his wife will take pity on him.