SmithGroup finishes 100th LEED-certified project

SmithGroupJJR, a long-time leader of sustainable design, has reached the 100 LEED project milestone.

SmithGroupJJR recently achieved its 100th LEED certified project: the LEED-NC Platinum Oakland University Human Health Building, constructed in Rochester, Michigan. With the milestone, the 161-year-old architecture and engineering firm becomes one of just a handful of firms that has reached such heights in sustainable design.

Many of SmithGroupJJR’s diverse clients – which include some of the nation’s leading colleges and universities, research institutions, corporations and healthcare providers – are realizing that sustainable design not only provides energy savings but also leads to increased employee productivity and happier, healthier workers.

“Clients are proactively asking for sustainable design solutions,” says Greg Mella, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, co-director of sustainable design at SmithGroupJJR. “What’s even more exciting is that they’re increasingly looking beyond LEED, aiming to create buildings that have the ability to produce all their energy on site. We believe that these buildings will become more and more common, and not just in the Sunbelt states, but across the U.S.” Mella added.

A Track Record of Firsts in Sustainable Design

SmithGroupJJR has long been committed to delivering sustainable solutions not only for its clients, but for the overall health of our planet. The firm’s green background is impressive: In 2001, its design of the headquarters for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Philip Merrill Environmental Center in Annapolis, Maryland was the first to receive the top LEED rating of Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council. Now, nearly 15 years later, SmithGroupJJR has designed another pacesetting project for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation: the Net-Zero Energy/Net Zero Water Brock Environmental Center, scheduled to complete construction this fall in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

While all SmithGroupJJR’s market sectors have embraced designing sustainability, one of the biggest growth industries for sustainable design is where you’d least expect it -- energy-consuming research laboratories. The SmithGroupJJR-designed Energy Systems Integration Facility for the U.S Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, Colorado, was among the SmithGroupJJR projects earning LEED Platinum in 2014. It follows the firm’s design of NREL’S Science & Technology Facility, which in 2007 became the first federal government building to attain LEED Platinum status.

Another sustainability first for SmithGroupJJR was its design of the Christman Building, Lansing, Michigan, which became the world’s first project to garner quadruple LEED Platinum awards: one for its core-and-shell design, another for Commercial Interiors and two for Existing Building certification.

The Future of Sustainability

What’s next for sustainable design? Following the 2030 Challenge and its mandate that the building industry achieve net zero energy for every building designed by the year 2030, the industry is moving beyond designing buildings that do less harm and consume less resources to designing buildings that are truly generating all the energy they consume, or Net-Zero Energy. There is also a growing Material Transparency movement, which asks manufacturers to openly communicate the material ingredients of a product, so smart decisions can be made to avoid those ingredients known to be hazardous. Finally, early Conceptual Performance Modeling has revolutionized sustainable design with the evaluation of expected energy performance of a project early in the design process.

Sustainability and energy efficiency depend not only on the overall design but also on the building's enclosure system. Whether it's via better air-infiltration control, thermal insulation, and moisture control, or more advanced strategies such as active façades with automated shading and venting or novel enclosure types such as double walls, Building Teams are delivering more efficient, better performing, and healthier building enclosures.

| Aug 11, 2010

Glass Wall Systems Open Up Closed Spaces

Sectioning off large open spaces without making everything feel closed off was the challenge faced by two very different projects—one an upscale food market in Napa Valley, the other a corporate office in Southern California. Movable glass wall systems proved to be the solution in both projects.

| Aug 11, 2010

Tall ICF Walls: 9 Building Tips from the Experts

Insulating concrete forms have a long history of success in low-rise buildings, but now Building Teams are specifying ICFs for mid- and high-rise structures—more than 100 feet. ICF walls can be used for tall unsupported walls (for, say, movie theaters and big-box stores) and for multistory, load-bearing walls (for hotels, multifamily residential buildings, and student residence halls).

| Aug 11, 2010

Great Solutions: Products

14. Mod Pod A Nod to Flex Biz Designed by the British firm Tate + Hindle, the OfficePOD is a flexible office space that can be installed, well, just about anywhere, indoors or out. The self-contained modular units measure about seven feet square and are designed to serve as dedicated space for employees who work from home or other remote locations.

Currently Reading

SmithGroup finishes 100th LEED-certified project

A Track Record of Firsts in Sustainable Design

The Future of Sustainability

Tags

| Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

| Aug 11, 2010

Most Popular Content

Magazine Subscription

Get our Newsletters

Follow BD+C: