Office Institutional Case Studies

Mercy Corps World Headquarters

Responding to international crises isn’t easy when your colleagues are scattered across six separate office spaces.

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(Magazine Issue/Winter 2013)

Gateway West Sustainable I

As a developer of commercial building controls and automation systems, Environmental Systems Inc. wanted its new headquarters near Milwaukee, Wis., to showcase the potential energy and cost savings that can be achieved through high performance design and efficient operations.

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(Magazine Issue/Winter 2013)

Adobe Headquarters

Prompted by the California energy crisis of 1999 – 2001, managers at Adobe Systems’ San Jose, Calif., headquarters sought to reduce energy use by 10%.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2012)

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

NREL applied its own research and best practices for net zero energy performance when building a new facility at its Golden, Colo., campus.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2012)

Indiana Tech Wilfred Uytengsu Senior Center

The renovation of this pre-Civil War era building demonstrates the potential for significant energy savings when historical structures are made “super efficient.”

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2012)

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

In 1988 the Natural Resources Defense Council helped pioneer green design when it renovated a New York City industrial loft as its international headquarters.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2012)

Golden Hill Office Center

Golden Hill Office Center is a 1980s building that outperformed conventionally designed office buildings of the era with respect to energy use.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2011)

Manitoba Hydro Place

Manitoba Hydro, the province's sole energy provider, began planning for a new, energy-efficient headquarters in 2002.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2011)

Cannon Design Regional Offices, Power House

Cannon Design repurposed an 85-year-old steam building in St. Louis for its regional offices by adding two floor plates to what was essentially an empty shell.

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2011)

The Christman Building

Adaptive reuse is ideal for older cities that have a large stock of historic buildings.

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2011)

Great River Energy Headquarters

Biomimicry solves human problems by looking at nature for solutions. At the headquarters of Great River Energy Coop, Minnesota’s second largest electricity provider, the computer-integrated lighting and HVAC systems influence each other, continuously adjusting with the ebb and flow of occupants, sun, wind and temperatures, forming a system that functions like a living body.

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2011)

A Grander View

The main lesson to be learned from A Grander View, headquarters of Enermodal Engineering, is that mechanical systems don’t have to be complicated to work.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2011)

David Brower Center

The David Brower Center is home to organizations working for environmental and social justice.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2011)

Holy Wisdom Monastery

The Benedictine Sisters’ mission of prayer, hospitality, justice and care for the earth guided the design of energy-efficient systems and selection of sustainable materials for their new monastery.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2011)

SOLON SE Headquarters

A photovoltaics manufacturer needed a headquarters building that showcased innovative energy designs.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2011)

CMTA Office Building

Kentucky engineering firm CMTA designed its new office to function as a laboratory to test new technologies and demonstrate their cost effectiveness to clients.

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(Magazine Issue/Winter 2011)

EPA Region 8 Headquarters

This building harnesses the natural resources of Denver’s climate.

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(Magazine Issue/Winter 2011)

200 Market Building

John Russell purchased the 200 Market Building in Portland, OR in 1988 and made a bet.

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2010)

Sydney's Latitude East

This new standard for green buildings will enable the transition from voluntary guidelines and programs to enforceable criteria that can be used by local, state or federal jurisdictions.

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2010)

The Terry Thomas

This Seattle commercial office building relies on passive strategies for cooling.

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2010)

Empire State Building

An American icon is undergoing a $500 million renovation that will create state-of-the-art office space in a historic building while reducing energy use and carbon emissions.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2010)

Hurt Building

The Hurt Building in downtown Atlanta has survived almost 100 years of technical change and history to emerge as an example of energy efficiency and sustainability that rivals the best of its modern peers.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2010)

Willis Tower

Designed just prior to the energy crisis in the 1970s, the tallest building in the western hemisphere still uses many of its original major building systems.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2010)

IDeAs Z2 Design Facility

The San Jose, Calif., office of Integrated Design Associates (IDeAs) achieves net zero energy by keeping building loads to a minimum and using building-integrated photovoltaic panels to produce electricity.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2010)

FC Gulf Freeway Office Building

Energy savings for four similar office buildings in the Houston area started with planting native vegetation on one roof.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2010)

Lighting Design Alliance

A studio that showcases lighting might not seem to be an obvious choice for a high performance facility.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2010)

Owens Corning World Headquarters

When Owens Corning built a new headquarters campus in 1996, it sought a flexible, sustainable and high performing building that encouraged collaboration.

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(Magazine Issue/Winter 2010)

McDonald’s Corporation World HQ Campus Office Building

McDonald’s built an energy-efficient headquarters building in suburban Chicago in 1988.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2009)

Burns & McDonnell World Headquarters

Plenty of barriers can derail sustainability efforts that involve a tenant, building manager and owner.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2009)

Stellar Commercial Building

The design and construction firm Stellar compares the performance of a LEED® Silver office building on its headquarters campus with an older office building, which is used for similar purposes.

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2009)

CSOB Headquarters

The 900,000 ft2 CSOB Headquarters is one of the Czech Republic’s largest, most sustainable and most energy-efficient buildings.

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2009)

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Citizenship and Immigration Service, Omaha

The Department of Homeland Security designed its Omaha facility to be welcoming, energy efficient and secure.

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2009)

VSP Vision Care Headquarters Building 1

As a demonstration of its commitment to sustainability, VSP Vision Care sought to reduce its energy use by 20%, reduce its water use by 50% from baseline and divert 95% of its waste stream.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2009)

Szencorp Building

Szencorp proves it is possible to teach an old building new tricks.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2009)

5 Houston Center

After decades of virtually no new construction, downtown Houston is experiencing a revitalization.

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(Magazine Issue/Winter 2009)

Avenue of the Americas

As originally built, the penthouse of a historic New York City building was an elegant dining room for an upscale department store.

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(Magazine Issue/Winter 2009)

Skansa Atlanta Office

Equipping a leased space for sustainability can be a challenge. Skanska, one of the world’s 10 largest construction companies, met this challenge when constructing the interior of its Atlanta office in a downtown high rise.

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(Magazine Issue/Winter 2009)

ASHRAE Headquarters

ASHRAE’s goal in renovating its existing headquarters in Atlanta was to provide a healthy and productive environment for staff and to showcase ASHRAE technology, while demonstrating the Society’s commitment to sustainability.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2008)

Spectral Services Consultants Corporate Office

India is one of the world’s top 10 energy consumers, and growth is expected around 6% annually over the next few years. However, Indian companies are working to cut energy consumption.

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(Magazine Issue/Fall 2008)

EMGP 270

In the City of Light, Parisians can see the vivid spectrum of light emanating from nearby Aubervilliers.

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(Magazine Issue/Summer 2008)

31 Tannery Project

What appears as an ordinary prefabricated building produces from renewable energy all the electricity needed to run an approximately 42,000 ft2 commercial facility for a full year.

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(Magazine Issue/Spring 2008)

Pearl River Tower

Guangzhou, China, has leaped the hurdle of energy-efficient buildings with a single bound, moving into a new era of efficient super-tall towers.

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(Magazine Issue/Winter 2008)

Heifer International Headquarters

As a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to relieving global hunger and poverty, Heifer International provides gifts of livestock and plants, as well as, education in sustainable agriculture, to financially disadvantaged families around the world.

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(Magazine Issue/Winter 2008)