Projects funded by the Kresge Foundation through its Green Building Initiative challenge-grants program traditionally have been more environment-friendly than the headquarters building of the Troy, Mich., benefactor. Now, the patron is taking a cue from its own philosophies on practicing sustainable architecture and has hired a design team to create a showcase green headquarters building to serve as teaching tool and resource for builders, students, and nonprofit organizations.

The Kresge Foundation, created in 1924 by Kmart founder Sebastian S. Kresge, soon will break ground on a $12.5 million headquarters by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates and green consultant Farr Associates, both based in Chicago, that will serve as a testing ground for sustainable-design technologies, especially for the nonprofit building projects the foundation helps to support. “Some of these things are so new that they need to be tested before anybody could conclude that everybody should do that,” foundation CEO and President John Marshall III told the Detroit Free Press. “We’re willing to be our own guinea pig and share our experience.”

The architects must preserve and incorporate original 19th-century farm buildings as they design the temporary quarters for the 30-person staff, who will relocate while their old working space is demolished and the new one is built. The architects note that they will build the 17,000-square-foot headquarters partly underground to save on heating and cooling and will use less paving to reduce and recycle stormwater runoff. Joe Valerio, AIA, told the Free Press that they will also “conserve energy through reducing lighting requirements, increasing natural lighting and ventilation, and incorporating a ‘green’ or grass roof for insulation and water absorption,” and will make an effort to use recycled, locally produced materials, including “wood that comes from sustainably managed forests.” The architects will seek a high-level LEED™ certification.

The foundation, which according to its 2002 annual report has awarded a total of 8,222 grants, totaling $1.92 billion, for construction and renovation of facilities, has a particular interest in sustainable design. It has recently launched its Green Building Initiative, which encourages nonprofit leaders to “examine their planning and design processes so that they can assess the environmental impact of their facilities.” For these efforts, the foundation says it is adding the incentive of planning and bonus grants. “The Foundation is also making available a series of educational materials designed for nonprofits to help them understand the green approach and consider it next time they build” and sponsoring green-building workshops for nonprofit organization executives, its Web site reports.

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