According to its corporate policy on the environment, "Armstrong recognizes the importance of protecting the environment and using resources responsibly. We are committed to environmental stewardship in our dealings with customers, employees, the government and our community."
What better way to practice what you preach than to swing for the proverbial fences and seek out the highest honor within USGBC's LEED® Rating System.
Already considered a "green" facility when it was designed by Gensler and built in 1998, Armstrong's corporate headquarters in Lancaster, PA, was recently awarded LEED Platinum certification for an Existing Building (LEED-EB).
This building is only the sixth existing building-and the first outside of California-to achieve LEED Platinum, which is the highest level of certification offered in the system. It is also the first U.S. building to earn LEED credit in the Innovations and Design category for acoustical quality.
Located on a 225-acre campus, Armstrong's headquarters is a three-story, 126,000-square-foot glass and steel structure consisting of a curved east wing and a rectilinear west wing, united by a soaring, light-filled atrium.
For Platinum certification, the building was evaluated for site sustainability; water efficiency; energy efficiency; use of materials and resources; indoor environmental quality; and design innovation. Philadelphia-based Re:Vision Architecture, an architecture, planning and consulting firm committed to revisioning and restoring the balance between natural and built environments, consulted with Armstrong to help the company achieve its certification.
Some of the building's characteristics that contribute to its environmental performance include:
- Use of clean, renewable energy—75 percent of the building's power is supplied by wind energy, which is the equivalent of planting 149,000 trees or removing 300 automobiles from the road
- Reduced energy use—Armstrong's headquarters uses less than 1.5 watts per square foot-half the nationwide average for comparable office buildings
- Reduced water use—The building reduced water use by more than 45 percent (from 800,000 gallons to 420,000 gallons)
- Recycling program—60 percent of the building's waste is recycled
- Maintenance—Environmentally responsible, Green Seal®-certified cleaning products are used
- Landscaping—Eliminates irrigation and provides erosion control and measured stormwater runoff into adjoining wetlands
"Armstrong is committed to environmental sustainability. Modifying our headquarters building to enable it to be Platinum certified is a concrete manifestation of that commitment," says Michael Lockhart, Armstrong chairman and CEO. "The Armstrong team that conceived and executed this project demonstrated that we can significantly reduce our impact on the environment by changing the way buildings are designed, built and used."
#9 Armstrong World Industries' Headquarters
