AIArchitect, April 19, 2004 - PROJECT WATCH: ACMP’s Cal-EPA Building Achieves First Gold Rating in LEED-EB Existing Buildings Program

04/2004

ACMP’s Cal-EPA Building Achieves First Gold Rating in LEED-EB Existing Buildings Program

The Sacramento headquarters for the California Environmental Protection Agency by AC Martin Partners (ACMP) recently became the first building to receive a Gold rating under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED™ for Existing Buildings Rating System (LEED-EB). The 25-story, 930,000-square-foot Cal-EPA building ranked highest among 87 participants currently in the LEED-EB program, which applies the council’s rating system to buildings already built when the standards were developed in 2000.

“ACMP built on EPA’s mission to protect the environment by creating design solutions that would have a low impact on both natural resources and the developer’s budget and processes,” says design principal David C. Martin, FAIA. “Our mission is always to create great, responsible spaces for our clients.”

Completed in 2000 for the City of Sacramento and developer Thomas Properties, Cal-EPA contains offices and conference rooms; a public hearing room, auditorium, child-care center, and landscaped plaza; and recreation/exercise facilities. The architect’s design and material selection for Cal-EPA resulted in a building that achieves 40 percent greater efficiency than the State of California Energy Code requires. The building’s sustainable features fall into three major areas: air quality, energy conservation, and recycling.

Air quality: The building’s innovative floor-by-floor fresh-air ventilation system employs two intake ducts on each floor, instead of a central duct system, which emits more noise and duct pressures. “This revolutionary feature is part of the basic architecture of the building and supplies superior indoor air quality while saving energy,” Martin says. Fan rooms placed at building corners prevent cross-contamination of fresh air by exhaust.

Energy conservation: AMCP built myriad energy-conservation strategies in the building. First, orienting the building north allows it to take greatest advantage of natural light and shade. Dual glazing with low-e coating on the façade helps moderate indoor temperatures, helped by precast panels with integral sunshades on the south and west façades. Other energy-conserving features include photovoltaic panels and diode lights on the top six floors. Motion detectors at workstations turn lights on and off for occupants.

Recycling: Not only did the architects incorporate high-performance green products into Cal-EPA’s construction, they made sure that much of the project’s construction debris was recycled. The building’s carpet tiles are made of 53 percent recycled content, and its ceiling tiles have 82 percent recycled content. Recycling also plays a role in the complete project: Cal-EPA incorporates built-in systems for tenant-activated recycling programs.

Cal-EPA’s Gold rating marks the fourth environmental recognition that ACMP has received. In October 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program named it the “Most Sustainable Building in North America.” In 2002, it received the American Public Works Association’s Project of the Year for Energy Conservation and Green Elements award, as well as an Earth Award for Sustainability from the local Building Owners and Managers Association.