San Francisco /PRNewswire/ - KMD Architects' design for a new 12-story headquarters for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is expected to be a leader in demonstrating energy efficiency, water recycling and reduced carbon footprint among major office buildings nationally, according to P.U.C. officials.
"What better organization than a major municipal power and water agency to create one of the most advanced buildings in green design in the U.S.," says David Hobstetter, KMD principal.
"Our intent from the beginning was to create the most energy-efficient office building developed in an urban setting in the United States to date," says Anthony Irons, P.U.C. deputy general manager. The $178 million, 254,000-square-foot headquarters will include features uncommon in buildings today, but "would be commonplace in years to come," he adds. Officials say construction will be paid by selling surplus real estate holdings and by issuing bonds against future rent savings, not by funds from rate-paying customers.
Dozens of wind turbines on the roof, solar panels embedded in outer walls, and a natural-cooling "thermal chimney" are among the features enabling the structure to supply 40 percent of its own energy needs, notes Hobstetter. On windy, sunlit days, it will go off the power grid completely.
"The S.F. P.U.C. headquarters is the type of well-proportioned, elegant project that reveals the next wave of thinking by designers and planners in which the building is seen as a component of its natural setting. The possibilities for innovation are limitless; just think of a city that regenerates rather than depletes its natural resources," describes Lisa Sullivan, director of publications, "Places: Forum of Design for the Public Realm", a journal sponsored by a consortium of design schools including U.C.-Berkeley, the Pratt Institute and MIT.
Planned to break ground at 525 Golden Gate Ave. near City Hall in 2008, the P.U.C. headquarters also employs advanced water-saving and water-recycling. Faucet sensors, waterless urinals, and on-demand water heaters will cut use to 5 gallons per occupant per day, compared to average office-building use of 25 gallons a day. A gray-water wastewater recycling system enables reuse of water from faucets and sinks in the building's toilets and the cooling system.
While water and power efficiencies were the P.U.C's primary goals, the new headquarters will also employ leading-edge design concepts in enhancing human performance, notes Hobstetter.
"Dozens of research studies have confirmed the benefits of natural daylight and views of greenspace in improving a person's productivity, reducing absenteeism and improving health and well-being," adds Hobstetter. "By utilizing sun-filtering shades, new window-glazing materials and other techniques, we were able to bring sunlight well inside the structure's interior work spaces."
"Energy efficiency is one thing-it can be accomplished with smart technology; it is easily measured," says Ryan Stevens, design principal at KMD. "We want to go one step further and provide a work space that will contribute to preserving the environment, foster interaction, creativity and productivity and also inspire the community."
The building is designed to exceed LEED®-Platinum criteria, and will exceed California's recently-instituted Title 24 requirements for energy efficiency in new office buildings by 60 percent, concludes Stevens.
About KMD
Since 1963, KMD (Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz) has combined innovation and creativity to provide exceptional healthcare, academic, commercial and corporate architectural services. With offices in Mexico City, Shanghai, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and projects throughout the world, KMD believes that experimentation and investigation of interpersonal interaction with the built environment are central to their work as architects, planners and researchers.
A leader in green building and sustainable design, KMD designs have been completed in more than 30 US states, and 15 countries around the world including France, China, Japan, Korea, Spain, Germany, England and Mexico and have won more than 200 design awards, including more than 40 from the American Institute of Architects. The company's Web site is www.kmdarchitects.com.
Source: KMD Architects
For additional information, contact Ron Heckmann, of KMD, at [email protected].
