Confidential Energy Client

This project represents the design and construction of a
new operations campus for the Washington region’s natural
gas utility. It consists of three new buildings on a 20-acre
site. The program includes: a 186,000 s.f. office building,
a 68,000 s.f. industrial building and a 530 car parking
structure.

This client’s goals included creating: a collaborative work
environment whereby individuals could overlap and freely
engage one another; a campus that utilized state-of-the-art
energy and sustainability strategies; and a facility that
underscored operational functionality rather than corporate
formality.

It is important to consider the amount of time individuals
spend in their office-work environments, and to endeavor
to increase the quality of these built environments.

The heavy-industrial site responds to this context by
focusing the three buildings inwardly ordering them around
a central landscape amenity. The office building is a
narrow bar that locates cores and primary circulation to the
north, allowing all work environments to be located along
the south with equal access to natural daylight and views of
the central lawn amenity. All shared, common functions
are located along the primary “main street” circulation
path. This fosters interaction and corporate “overlap”.
The three office levels “float” over the ground floor where
conference and semi-public functions are located. This all
sits atop a plinth that absorbs the site topography.

Internally, the structural steel elements are exposed,
referencing the industrial context. The envelope of the
building is intended to honestly express the facilities
internal functions.

Energy efficient, state-of-the-art systems include the first
commercial installation of a Bloom fuel cell on the east
coast, as well as a DOAS (Direct outside Air Supply) HVAC
system. This company’s carbon footprint was reduced 93%
relative to its previous operations center; this represents a
reduction of 38,870 metric tons of CO2.