In downtown Houston, Skanska USA’s 1550 on the Green, a 28-story, 375,000-sf office tower, aims to be one of Texas’ most sustainable buildings. The $225 million project has deployed various sustainable building materials, such as less carbon-intensive cement, to achieve 60% reduced embodied carbon.
Located next to Discovery Green, a 12-acre public park, 1550 on the Green is the first phase of Discovery West, a mixed-use project that will span three blocks.
Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the building’s curved shape, described as a side-core design, allows unobstructed daylight to enter the oversized windows. The curved design provides views of Discovery Green, more efficient floor plates, more natural light than traditional floor plates, and natural light in the elevator lobby and restrooms. The building also uses air-handling technology that provides 30% more fresh air than traditional office buildings.
1550 on the Green offers touchless turnstiles and secure access points, as well as a building app for tenants. In addition to multiple levels of outdoor terraces with native plants, 1550 on the Green includes a bike storage room, a 7,000 sf spa-like fitness center, a 9,400 sf tenant-exclusive rooftop event space and conference center, and 7,000 sf of ground-level retail with over 5,000 sf of patio directly across from Discovery Green. Michael Hsu Office of Architecture designed the fitness center and other tenant amenity spaces.
1550 on the Green has been designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification. Completion is expected by the end of the year.
On the Building Team:
Owner/developer: Skanska USA Commercial Development
Design architect: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
Architect of record: Kendall Heaton
Landscape architect: SWA Group
Interior design architect: Michael Hsu Office of Architecture
MEP engineer: Wylie Engineering
Structural engineer: Walter P Moore
General contractor: Skanska USA Building
Related Stories
| Nov 19, 2013
Top 10 green building products for 2014
Assa Abloy's power-over-ethernet access-control locks and Schüco's retrofit façade system are among the products to make BuildingGreen Inc.'s annual Top-10 Green Building Products list.
| Nov 15, 2013
Greenbuild 2013 Report - BD+C Exclusive
The BD+C editorial team brings you this special report on the latest green building trends across nine key market sectors.
| Nov 15, 2013
Metal makes its mark on interior spaces
Beyond its long-standing role as a preferred material for a building’s structure and roof, metal is making its mark on interior spaces as well.
| Nov 13, 2013
Government work keeps green AEC firms busy
With the economy picking up, many stalled government contracts are reaching completion and earning their green credentials.
| Nov 13, 2013
Installed capacity of geothermal heat pumps to grow by 150% by 2020, says study
The worldwide installed capacity of GHP systems will reach 127.4 gigawatts-thermal over the next seven years, growth of nearly 150%, according to a recent report from Navigant Research.
| Nov 8, 2013
Can Big Data help building owners slash op-ex budgets?
Real estate services giant Jones Lang LaSalle set out to answer these questions when it partnered with Pacific Controls to develop IntelliCommand, a 24/7 real-time remote monitoring and control service for its commercial real estate owner clients.
| Nov 6, 2013
Dallas’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2030 advances with second phase of green codes
Dallas stands out as one of the few large cities that is enforcing a green building code, with the city aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030.
| Nov 6, 2013
Energy-efficiency measures paying off for commercial building owners, says BOMA study
The commercial real estate industry’s ongoing focus on energy efficiency has resulted in a downward trend in total operating expenses (3.9 percent drop, on average), according to BOMA's Experience Exchange Report.
| Nov 6, 2013
PECI tests New Buildings Institute’s plug load energy use metrics at HQ
Earlier this year, PECI used the NBI metrics to assess plug load energy use at PECI headquarters in downtown Portland, Ore. The study, which informed an energy-saving campaign, resulted in an 18 percent kWh reduction of PECI’s plug load.
| Oct 31, 2013
CBRE's bold experiment: 200-person office with no assigned desks [slideshow]
In an effort to reduce rent costs, real estate brokerage firm CBRE created its first completely "untethered" office in Los Angeles, where assigned desks and offices are replaced with flexible workspaces.
